So They Met In A Bar
by daenabenjen42
Summary: It was love at first really awkward question... Writer's Workshop Challenge. OC's.
1. Can I Draw Your Pants?

Title: So they met in a bar...  
Characters: Well... for the most part, OC's.  
Timeframe: Pre-ROTJ  
Notes: This was written for the From Idea to Story Challenge of a writer's workshop to write a scene with our characters: _It's introduction time. Pick one or more of your characters and write them as if you were introducing them into a story for the first time._

* * *

He was cleaning the bar with a rag that had seen better days when a person in a dark-colored cloak walked in. Intrigued, he watched as she got her bearings and walked straight to the bar. She lowered her hood, their eyes met, and for a moment he forgot where he was.

It was as if he'd been blind before, and now the world was clear. His purpose was clear, and she was standing before him, hair slightly disheveled, brown eyes pensive.

"I like your pants," she blurted suddenly. "Can I draw them?"

He blinked at her. "I guess so..."

She sat down slowly, looked at him ruefully with a hand to her forehead. "I really just said that, didn't I?"

Despite the oddness, he couldn't help but notice the state of her clothes underneath the cloak. How'd they get burned like that? Frowning, he got back behind the bar. "Are you thirsty?"

"Very..." She studied him, then looked around to check out the patrons. "This is going to sound weird, but... what city is this?"

"Dorthus Tal," he answered as he handed her a Corellian Ale. She took it, but didn't drink at first. "Are you all right?"

"Define all right, sir. Things haven't been all right for a really long time."

He was starting to wonder if letting her drink anything other than water had been such a bright idea. Her eyes held more shadows than most people he?d seen come through here that were much older. He held out a hand to her. "I'm Drev."

She studied him for a long moment, took a drink of her Ale, and then returned the handshake. "Taloh."

"Did you really want to draw my pants?"

She snorted in laughter. "They're colorful."

He had to suppress a chuckle at that answer. Little did he know, he'd later have cause to regret giving her that Ale...


	2. Remembering

Note: This section was in response to the second challenge from the workshop: _Now here's the challenge. Step out of your comfort zone and write in the point of view that you usually avoid like the plague._

* * *

She held the Ale in a vice-like grip, not wanting to feel anything other than the coolness of the glass in her hand. Staring at it, she was able to ground herself. To not think.

sunlight  
city streets  
people  
white light  
rushing  
at her

"Are you all right?" the bartender's cautious voice asked.

She tore her eyes away from the glass in her hand to look at him. She wanted to answer him falsely, to tell him that all was well. But she couldn?t. The half-remembered screams said otherwise. "No."

pain  
pain  
pain  
radiating  
ever outward  
destruction

The Ale soothed her, numbed the pain of the voices. Why were there voices, and why did she remember them, and why were they screaming? She did not know the answers.

white light  
evil had been there  
screams  
had one  
been her own...?

It did not escape her notice that the bartender was watching her cautiously as he tended to another patron. She took another sip of the Ale, taking solace in the stinging sensation as it went down her throat. Burning and real... an anchor for the anchorless.

screams  
many  
countless  
white light  
burning  
screaming

The bartender asked a question and she could do nothing but stare at him blankly. "I'm sorry?"

"I'm getting off shift now, Taloh. I would feel better if you allowed me to escort you home."

"I am fine." What was his name, anyway? He'd told her what it was, right?

He sighed. "I realize that, but..."

screams  
bright white burning light  
pain  
city streets  
people  
screams

"No!"

He blinked. "No, what?"

screams  
people  
bright white light  
blinding  
searing  
radiating  
city streets  
pain

She shoved away from the bar, shaking and breathing hard. "No! No! No!" She stood up on unsteady legs and ran. "No!"

screams  
her people  
city streets  
nothing  
white light  
radiating  
pain

Out the door, she ran. Down the street, she ran.

white light  
screams  
destruction  
pain

Screaming in the half-light of dusk, she ran. White armored people, suits... up ahead. She didn't want to stop, wanted to keep running.

"Stop where you are!" a voice rang out.

screams  
white light  
...white armor  
pain  
destruction  
on city streets...


	3. Technologically Amnesic

Drev watched the woman run out the door and could do nothing but stare after her, blinking in stupefication. Had that really just happened? His hand slipped on the bar and bumped into the glass she'd been holding, and he blinked again when he looked at it closer. There, where her hands had been, were noticeable indents... of fingers. "How did she do that?" A hand on his shoulder made him jump and he looked to find his relief staring at him. "Sativa?"

Sativa nodded to the door. "I think you should go after her, Drev. Someone needs to make certain she's all right."

Drev had the grace to feel appalled that he hadn't done exactly that and handed her the glass. "Put this somewhere for me."

Sativa took it and watched as he rushed out the door, then looked down at the glass to see why he'd said that. "Odd..."

* * *

He found her standing on the edge of what must have been an explosion. There were Storm Troopers laying scattered on the street in front of a building he knew had been an Imperial security checkpoint office. It was in ruins, smoke and flame pouring out of it, the air smelling foul...

Knowing he couldn't do a thing for the downed troopers, Drev gingerly approached the woman. "Taloh?"

Slowly, as if she were in some kind of fog, she turned to him. He hoped to never see an expression like that on anyone's face ever again. "It was white... like magnesium..." And then her eyes rolled back and she collapsed into his waiting arms.

Drev stood there for a long, silent moment, supporting her as he once again surveyed the area of destruction. One of the troopers on the outer edge of the blast zone was starting to pick themselves up and get their bearings. Good. That meant he could get her out of here. People would come and emergency crews would be called... there was nothing else he could do that wouldn't be done very shortly.

Getting a firmer grip on the woman in his arms, Drev walked away from the blast zone as fast as he could.

* * *

A day or so earlier... elsewhere and elsewhen...

* * *

It was just after eight in the morning as she strolled along the riverbank, enjoying the cool morning breeze and watching as people went about their morning routines. Some were headed to work, others to school... just an average, run of the mill morning and she liked it.

Another breeze ruffled her hair as she turned and looked out over the water. It was hard to believe there was a war going on when things were this calm and peaceful. The sudden squawk of a bird from above, as if it were alarmed about something, made her look upward.

The bird... wait, forget the bird. Was that a plane way up there? She had just enough time to blink in confusion before a white, burning flash slammed into her like a thousand knives, hotter than she'd ever felt before.

The heat seemed to blossom, as if it was a living, breathing, palpable thing. She tried to move, run, do something other than just stand there, but a massive force knocked her down. It was as if a thousand pound stone had been dropped on her.

The noise from the shockwave, if that was what it was, was deafening, a howling schism that she lost herself in. As she passed out and darkness claimed her, she thought she heard screams...

* * *

Now...

* * *

He was determined not to leave her side after his sister had finally allowed him back into the room. Focusing on the woman in the bed, he had to blink in surprise when he noticed a soft silver glow emanating from her. What was that? Was it related to his sister the medic's radiation sensor patch going off, or was it something else? Glancing at the patch on his arm, he noted that it wasn't reacting.

When the troopers from the blast site had started arriving at the clinic, she'd gone to help treat them and find some answers.

Slowly, the glow faded if it had never been, and he was left frowning in thought. It reminded him of something... he wasn't quite certain what it reminded him of, but it did.

She groaned and rolled to her side, opening her eyes as she did so. Seeing him, she frowned. "Who are you?"

Drev didn't answer at first as she sat up and looked around at the small, sterile room. She studied the walls curiously, and then turned to look at him with raised eyebrows, cocking her head in question. "My name is Drev."

She blinked at him, seemingly confused at his tone. "We've had this conversation before, haven't we?"

"Yes, we have. Right before you ran out of the bar, screaming no about something." He gazed at her for a moment, staring at him with a stunned expression on her face. "You don't remember this, Taloh?"

She shook her head. "No... do you have a name, or should I just call you Barkeep?" At his expression, Taloh winced. "Sorry, Drev. I know you told me your name... Slip of the tongue."

Someone cleared their throat and the both of them turned to find a woman standing in the doorway, watching them with a smirk. Drev smiled at her. "Look, Ailee... the Glowbug here is awake."

Ailee chuckled. "So I see..." She entered the room and pulled what appeared to be a small pen light out of her pocket. "How do you feel, ma'am?"

Taloh pulled away as Ailee started to shine the light in her eyes. "Fine. What are you doing with that?"

"Just let me do this, all right?" When she shined the light in Taloh's eyes and she shirked away from it automatically, Ailee frowned. She tried again and got the same response. Looking down at the instrument in her hand, she shook her head, turned it off, and put it back in her pocket. "All right... different plan."

"Ailee?" Drev asked, suddenly curious about what he'd witnessed. He knew that reaction wasn't normal.

Ailee held up a hand, asking for silence, but not taking her eyes off the woman on the bed. "Can I ask you some questions?"

Taloh nodded. "Yes."

"What day is it?"

"Tuesday."

"What color are Drev's eyes?"

Taloh frowned as she looked over at him. "Brown. Why?"

"Do you know why your clothes were burned and you had what appeared to be thermal burns?"

At that, Taloh could only stare at her, perplexed at the question. "What?"

Ailee nodded. "That's what I thought."

"Ailee, now would be a good time to start making sense," Drev muttered.

"Something traumatic happened," Ailee told him, still not breaking eye contact with Taloh. "And... I ran your DNA against our database, miss. Whoever you are, the computer didn't match you to anyone on planet. Not to family, or even a distant relative. Your move."

Taloh frowned again. "What is a computer?"

At that, Drev stood up and pulled Ailee out into the hall. Closing the door to the room, he regarded her with a tired expression of incredulity. "What are you doing?"

Ailee sighed. "My job, Drev... and some of the troopers from that blast earlier tonight were moaning about a 'glowing thing' that attacked them when one of their people tried to stop it from running past them. Sound familiar?"

"You saw her glow?"

"It was hard to miss."

Drev frowned in thought... no, it wasn't possible. Was it? "You think it was her."

Frustrated, Ailee rolled her eyes at him. "Well no, but I saw the glow. I'm suspicious. And who in this day and age doesn't know what a computer is?"

"You're reaching, you know."

She sighed again. "No, I'm just frustrated and it's been a long night... evening. Long evening."

He leaned against the wall, soaking in the coolness of it. She was right. Long day all around... "I know what you mean... So, something traumatic happened?"

"To her? Definitely. She was flinching away from my pen light, those burns, the burned clothing... setting off my rad sensor..." Ailee paused in thought before looking at him again. "Tell you what. Why don't you go home and get some rest? I'm keeping her overnight for observation and there's nothing more you can do here."

"Why can't I stay?"

"Because you worked a nine hour shift before all the madness, Drev."

"But..."

"Do I have to wake Pettia up so she can enforce the older sister's perogative, drag you home, and sit on you until you fall asleep?" She stared at him until he looked away. "Don't think I won't, brother dear. She'd probably even enjoy it."

Drev shook his head in the negative. "No, you don't need to do that... Can I at least tell Taloh that you've ordered me to bed?"

Ailee laughed. "Please do. Don't need to traumatize the poor dear any more than she already is."

He rolled his eyes at her. "You are so much weirder since you started working the night shift."

"Could be worse."

"Um-hmm... remind me to get you a stuffed animal." At her exasperated and angry expression, Drev smirked and ducked back into the room.

"If he gets me a stuffed animal, then I'm getting him an assault rifle," she muttered. He knew how she felt about stuffed animals... she hadn't so much as looked at one since she was six. "A nice big assault rifle... with a resistance cell member attached to it."

* * *

Taloh looked up when Drev re-entered the room, frowning. "Is something wrong?"

"Ailee is kicking me out for the night."

"Come to think of it, you do seem a little tired."

"Long day."

She smiled at the honesty and the wryness clearly in his tone. "Then go."

"Just like that?"

Taloh nodded. "Just like that."

Drev studied her for a long moment. "I'll be back in the morning."

"You don't have to do that." But, oddly enough... she appreciated the sentiment.

"I want to."

She nodded and watched as he left, curious as to why he would want to comfort someone he had just met. It wasn't something she was used to... and for some reason, it felt odd, letting someone in.

Ailee entered the room and leaned against the doorjam, watching her with a calm smile. "I think he likes you."

"What makes you think that?"

Ailee glanced out the door, then back at her. "I know my brother."

Not wanting to even think in that direction, Taloh glanced down at herself, noticing for the first time that she was wearing a hospital gown. "Where are my clothes?"

Ailee sighed as she pulled up a chair to sit next to the bed. "Being decontaminated. What's left of them, that is."

Somehow, that answer did not sound good. Not at all. "Decontaminated? As in poison?"

"No, as in radiation. That is why I asked you what I did."

"Ah..." But inside, Taloh was anything but calm. What had happened? And... where was here? That was two questions. No... three. "What is a computer? You didn't answer that one."

Ailee motioned to a unit in the corner. "That is a computer."

Taloh followed the gesture, wondering at the evasiveness, and blinked at the unfamiliar machine. It was just one more thing she'd be wondering about...


	4. Familial Bonding and Fake ID

Taloh glanced at the other woman as she sat in the chair and stared at a small metal rectangular device. "Are you going to be staying in here all night?"

"Technically, its morning," Ailee muttered without looking up.

"It is?"

"Just after 2400 hours."

Taloh started to get out of the bed and Ailee glared at her. "What?"

"If there's something you need, just say the word. Otherwise, you're staying in here."

"I just want to stand up and stretch." And I know six different ways to knock you out, she thought. Was the woman always this annoying?

Ailee smiled. "Oh... sorry. Go right ahead."

Taloh rolled her eyes as she moved the blankets and swung her feet over the side of the bed. "Dua Netjer en etj."

Ailee blinked in confusion. "What was that?"

Taloh paused and replayed what she'd said in her mind. Oops... "Thank you. And you didn't answer my question."

"About staying in here all night?"

"Yes, that."

Ailee waited until Taloh was fully standing and then answered. "No, not staying in here the rest of the night. Just waiting until I know you are at least partly oriented."

"Huh?"

Ailee sighed as she put her datapad in her pocket. "I didn't want to say anything in front of my brother, but... whatever Tuesday is, this isn't it."

"Now I'm confused... it's the second day of the week." Taloh frowned in thought as Ailee shook her head. "I'm missing something, aren't I?"

"Yes, you seem to have lost several days... and the computer thing."

Taloh froze in midstretch and stared at her. "What? You're trying to tell me that I went for a walk this morning and somehow that wasn't this morning?" She leaned against the bed, frowning again in thought. "I knew something was off when I woke up in that alley and saw what looked like giant otters. Thought I was imagining it."

"Giant what?"

"Brown, walk on their hind legs, seemed to be quadraped, way bigger than they should be?"

Ailee thought about that description as she pulled the datapad back out of her pocket and keyed up some information. Then she handed it to Taloh. "I think you mean Selonians... or Wookiees, but it's been a while since I've seen a Wookiee here."

Taloh took the datapad gingerly, squinted at the image, and then handed it back to her. "Yes... those."

"This is the sixth day of the week, by the way," Ailee told her as she waited for Taloh to get back into the bed. Then she stood up. "And no, in answer to your earlier question, I'm not staying in here all morning long. Feel like sleeping?"

"Not tired," Taloh told her. Then she felt a sudden urge to yawn.

Ailee smiled at her knowingly and dimmed the lights a little. "Try anyway."

Taloh watched her leave, then shook her head in disbelief. She'd generally avoided the medical community, but this medical person took the cake for oddness. Laying down and staring out the still-open door, Taloh had to wonder... what had happened that it was now four days later than it should have been? That thought followed her into a semi-restful slumber.

* * *

Drev strode in through the front door of the hospital clinic and frowned when he saw his sister standing at the desk, holding a cup of caf as if it were a lifeline. "How do you ever sleep?"

"Hmmm?" She took another sip, then smiled at him. "Top of the morning to you too, Drev. Sleep well?" He raised an eyebrow at her and she shook her head. "This is decaf."

"Ah. Yes, I did get some sleep."

"That's good." She took another sip and they stood there in silence. He felt like tapping his foot impatiently, but settled for glaring at her, hoping it would get the point across. "Glaring at me will only prolong the suffering, you know."

"Is this because I threatened you with a stuffed animal last night?"

"Perhaps."

"Ailee..."

"What?"

"You're going to make me ask it, aren't you?" As she smiled at him guilelessly, he sighed. "Fine. How is she?"

"Still sleeping and more oriented than last you saw her... also talks in foreign languages in her sleep. Heard three different ones when I checked on her earlier."

"What?"

"You asked." Ailee glanced around, seemed to nod to herself, and then handed him something. "Here. This is for you if you're getting her out of here."

Drev blinked as he stared at the ID card in his hand. "Why did you..."

"I had some time in the wee hours of the morning." She leaned closer, whispered... "And some connections."

"Oh. Knightshield? What kind of a name is that?"

Ailee shrugged. "I listened to her sleeptalking for a while. She kept repeating something about knights and shields... when I could understand it, anyway."

"Ah. Thank you." Drev stood there, staring at the identification card. How had she gotten it done so fast? Not that he didn't know, really... the resistance did, indeed, have connections. "Found some things out yesterday."

Ailee laughed under her breath as she took a sip of caf. "Good. Save it for the community meeting."

"Tired?"

"Very. And Drev?"

"Yes?"

"We finally got stuff to do."

Stuff to do? That had to be the oddest way to say 'we got orders from the Alliance' that he'd heard yet. It was accurate, though. "Good to know."

"Hide that thing, would you?"

"It's just..."

"Surprising?" She asked as he tucked it away into a pocket. "Not really."

"Coming from you, it is."

"I felt guilty," Ailee told him after a long moment of silence.

"For what?"

"Being tactless last night. I knew she was possibly traumatized, but..."

"Hey," Drev said as he placed a hand on her arm. "You were doing your job, Ailee."

"Doesn't change it."

"No, it doesn't."

They stood there until Ailee broke eye contact and shrugged his hand off. "I'm going to go see if she's up yet... thanks."

"Anytime." Drev watched as she started to walk away and his eyebrows went up when she stopped and turned back to look at him. "What?"

"Just thought of something." She shrugged again and continued to walk away.

* * *

Taloh was staring at the wall when the lights were suddenly turned up to full. "You didn't have to do that. I'm up."

"Sort of figured you would be," Ailee told her with some consternation in her tone. "Come on, now. Sit up."

"Why?" Taloh heard the door shut and rolled over to find Ailee leaning against it and pinching the bridge of her nose. Frowning, Taloh sat up, wondering if the other woman had a headache. "Are you all right?"

"Fine. Just tired and taking a moment where I don't have to pretend every thing is normal and fine and dandy." She stood like that for a minute, then looked at Taloh. "Oh, good. You're sitting up."

Taloh paused and took a moment to notice what was in her other hand. Clothing and a pair of shoes. "What are those for?"

"You." Ailee set the clothes, which Taloh recognized as her cloak and a pair of pants with a matching midnight blue top, on the bed and handed the shoes to her. "I think these are your size. Hard to tell with shoes. Put 'em on while I go get my brother and bring him back here." She chuckled suddenly. "And let's not tell my superiors that I loaned a patient clinic garments."

"Why not?"

"Trying to keep a low profile."

"I won't tell them if you don't," Taloh told her as she picked up the cloak. "This is mine."

"Yes. Got it decontaminated finally. Thought it's funny..."

"How so?"

"That cloak is not burned like your dress was."

Taloh frowned as Ailee flashed her a grin and left the room. Then she stood up slowly, wondering at that statement. Of course it wasn't... she hadn't been wearing a cloak on a summer morning. Then she blinked the image of a plane away. Where had that come from?

Five minutes later, she was dressed and there was a knock at the door. "I'm decent." The door opened, revealing Ailee and Drev. "Still don't get why the cloak."

"You were wearing it," Drev told her.

"Ah." That wasn't really what she'd meant...

"Come on."

"Where?"

"Are you hungry?"

"Yes."

"That's where we're going. Getting out of Ailee's hair, too."

Ailee chuckled. "Funny."

Drev rolled his eyes at her. "I promise not to make fun of you and stuffed animals again, all right? Force knows what you'd do if I actually got you one."

"That's for me to know," Ailee told him humorously as they stepped aside to allow Taloh to exit the room.

"You two are definitely related," Taloh told them.

Drev smiled, nodding. "Yep... Meeting later, sister dear?"

"Yes, brother darling. Have a good time."

"It's breakfast, not a night on the town."

"You never have nights out on the town. You watch while other people do."

Taloh happened to be looking at Drev as a scowl crossed his face and decided to get them apart as quickly as possible, lest one of them become violent in more than words. "So... breakfast? I'm famished and I'm not certain when I ate last."

They both looked at her and Ailee nodded. "Right. Have fun... quiet fun."

"We'll do our best," Drev told her as he took Taloh by the arm and began to lead her away. Once they were outside, he turned to Taloh. "Thanks."

"For what?"

"Changing the subject." He glanced down at what she was wearing and shook his head. "I liked that dress you were wearing before, but the dark blue is nice too."

She wanted to say something in reply, but nothing came to her, so Taloh simply smiled at him. It had been a while since anyone had complimented her on anything... and now it was slightly unnerving. "So where are we going?"

"Home."

"Your home?"

"Yes."

"Why, Drev, I barely know you."

"And I barely know you, but after what happened last night, the garrison is on high alert. Personally, I'd like to avoid prying eyes."

She frowned at him as they continued to walk down the street. "Garrison?"

Drev motioned with his other hand and she followed the gesture, only just realizing that there were people in uniforms and armor displayed prominently at strategic points along the street. "Garrison."

For some reason, the white armor and the helmets were giving her the willies. She did not voice another protest as they walked the rest of the way.

* * *

Translation: "Dua Netjer en etj" = "Thank you" (to a woman)


	5. Flashes of Recall

She waited while he made breakfast at the stove in his kitchen, uneasy about being in an unfamiliar place. "Do you usually take women you are unfamiliar with home with you and cook breakfast?"

Drev chuckled. "No, not usually."

"So I'm special, then?"

"Normally, I just come home alone," he told her honestly. "I don't make a habit of meeting people who can make glass melt with their hands when they are out of sorts." He glanced at her for a moment, then returned his attention to cooking.

"What?"

"Yesterday, when you ran out, the glass you were holding had indents from your fingers."

She stared at his back, stunned at that information. She'd made glass melt? "I don't remember that?"

"Hardly surprising that you don't, Glowbug."

"That's the second time you've called me that, Drev."

"You do glow, you know." He finished and placed what he'd made on plates, bringing them over to her. "Seems to suit you, too."

She shook her head, trying to shake away the uneasy feeling she got at his mentioning the glow. An image of an air plane again flitted through her mind and she shuddered. What had happened four days ago? And, now that she thought about it, why didn't this feel like home? "So many mysteries..."

"Taloh?"

She looked up to find him watching her, concern evident in his eyes. "It's nothing."

"Sure, it isn't."

"Could be something, but I don't know what."

He set one of the plates in front of her, and then sat down across from her. "Better answer. Eat."

She nodded and looked at the plate he'd set in front of her. Aside from the unfamiliar green garnish thing, it looked normal. If normal constituted bacon and eggs... "Drev? I'm not complaining, but... do you have any rice?"

"Rice?"

"It's not breakfast without rice. I... don't know why I feel that way." She glanced up to find him staring at her. "What?"

"I've never had anyone ask for rice for breakfast before." He started to get up and she waved him off. "If you want it..."

"Sit, Drev... Todo Raba, though."

"Todo what?"

She blinked, again feeling unsettled. "Thank you for the kindness. I did that with Ailee, too."

"Did what?"

"Said thank you, but not in basic." Taloh paused, suddenly realizing something. "We are speaking Basic, right?"

"Yes." He reached across the table and took her hand in his. "We'll figure this out, Taloh... Still want that rice?"

"No, this looks good without it. Been a while since I last had bacon and eggs."

He watched her as she began to eat, wondering at the slight accent change in her voice. Maybe it was his imagination, but he could have sworn she'd started rolling her words in a sort of drall. This got more interesting all the while, didn't it?

Shrugging and making a mental note to cook some rice for evening meal, Drev settled in to eat before it got cold.

* * *

Before...

* * *

"Ari, you have just got to see the sky today," a woman's voice said, cutting into her train of thought as she let the paint brush glide across the canvass. "Bright and blue and everything."

Taloh glanced at her, then returned her attention to the canvass she was working on. "I was outside this morning and I've seen it that blue lots of times."

"Um-hmm... you're ruining it by staying inside," the woman told her as she looked over Taloh's shoulder. "That's pretty. What's it going to be when it's done?"

"An ocean of sand dunes... an oasis."

"Ah. Thinking of home?"

"Home as it was. Go outside and enjoy the day, Bren."

"Only if you take a break."

"What if I don't want to take a break?"

"Then I'll set fire to every last blank piece of canvass in the house."

"Just so I will go outside?"

Bren was fighting the urge to laugh. "Yes."

"I can get more canvass, you know."

"Ah, but to do that you would have to go outside. Either way, I win."

Taloh snorted in laughter and set the paint brush down. "All right, already. I'll take a break."

"Good."

* * *

Now...

* * *

Taloh was doodling on a piece of something Drev had called 'flimsy' when people started to arrive. Why he'd called it that and a different word-paper-had come to mind, she didn't know. The doodle had long since turned into a detailed drawing of some kind of aircraft as it would look from the ground: the image she kept seeing in her mind.

"What is that?" a very familiar, if new to her knowledge, voice asked from very close to her ear. "It kinda looks like a really big air fighter, only of a type I've never seen before. Way less modern, too."

Taloh winced and slowly turned to find Ailee standing there, curiosity in her brown eyes. "I'm not sure, but I keep getting flashes of it."

Ailee nodded, frowning slightly at that explanation. "Interesting. Keep drawing every time you get flashes of memory like that. Maybe it'll help."

"Maybe... Why are you here?"

"It's my brother's house, Taloh. Visiting is what we do."

Taloh took a moment to stare at her with wry consternation, and a slight feeling of déjà vu. Had someone teased her that way before? "I meant instead of sleeping."

Ailee smiled. "Oh. I got some sleep after Drev left with you. Not much, since it was normal clinic hours, but enough. And... since I didn't officially check you in as a patient, and because they'd have checked everywhere else, you were sleeping in my on call room."

"So that's why you stayed in there so long?"

"Partly. Really was and still am concerned about you... clinically and otherwise." Ailee motioned to the other people milling about whom Taloh hadn't noticed. "Also here for a meeting. Can't do it at any of our usual places with Imp security amped up the way it is, so Drev volunteered."

"Imp? As in fairy tales and myth?"

"No. As in Imperial."

Taloh blinked as she suddenly got the chills at that word. In her minds eye, she saw images of trees with pink blossoms, and she smelled the welcome aroma of an arid desert all at once. Something tight was suddenly around her upper right arm and she grabbed at it, only to find the phantom sensation of a cuff that should have been there and wasn't flashed through her senses. She saw it for a moment, as if she'd held it in her hands once, and heard a chink of metal from the two or three pieces that hung from it. "Oh..."

Ailee put a hand on Taloh's shoulder to steady her. "Are you all right?"

"I don't know..."

Ailee studied her, then turned to look around at the people who were becoming more numerous with the passing minutes. There were five, with five outstanding... Then she turned back to Taloh. "Can you handle a group right now?"

Taloh blinked at her and the room came back into focus. "Yes."

"You're sure?"

"Yes, Ailee. I'm sure I can handle a group of people." And she had to wonder why a voice in the back of her mind was laughing outright... was what she'd just said supposed to be funny?

Ailee nodded after studying her for a moment longer. "All right, then..."

"Who is your friend, Miss Hallan?" a playful male voice asked from behind Ailee.

Ailee sighed long-sufferingly and turned to face the man who had rather rudely made his presence known. "Why, Officer Melyan. I thought you weren't interested in getting to know us natives."

"So what if I'm curious? A man has the right to be curious, you know."

Ailee rolled her eyes at him and then looked at Taloh, who was looking at them with raised eyebrows. "This is Officer Darvis Melyan, our resident annoying and very undercover CorSec agent."

"You think I'm annoying?"

"Yes. Darvis, this is Taloh Knightshield."

Darvis nodded to Taloh, who was taking a moment to get over the name Ailee had just used in reference to her. "Pleased to meet you, Taloh."

When Taloh hesitated to responde, Ailee nudged her. "Um, right. Nice to meet you, too."

When Darvis wandered away to meet and greet more of the resistance cell members, Taloh turned to look at Ailee. "Knightshield?"

"You talk in your sleep."

"Oh." Taloh blushed for a moment, embarrassed at the revelation of sleep talking. Of all the things that she knew about herself up to now, that one had an added factor of humiliation attached to it.

"Don't worry about it. As sleep behaviors go, it's better than sleep walking."

"That's reassuring in a way that isn't."

"Only just." Ailee shrugged. "It's all I've got on four or so hours of sleep right now."

"You said he was undercover?"

"Darvis?"

"Yes."

"That means he is not officially here as a CorSec agent."

"And a CorSec agent is?" She had an idea for what it might have been, but it was good to ask for clarification on things.

"Security personelle."

Taloh nodded, accepting that answer. So the man was some kind of a cop. That, she kind of understood. If only just.

* * *

Drev had just shut the door after letting the last person to arrive in when Ailee pulled him aside. "What?"

Ailee frowned at him warily for a moment. "Your amnesiac houseguest is the what."

"She'll be fine."

"She is having flashes of recall where she turns ashen white," Ailee explained further, nearly pinning him to the wall with her eyes. "I fail to see how you think it's fine."

"She's not running away screaming," Drev said automatically, wanting to kick him self for answering it that way. "And I noticed the flashes, too."

"You think she's okay for a group setting?"

"She has done fine all day, so yes."

"That was with just you and a piece of flimsy," Ailee reminded him as she glanced toward the living room, sighing. "Okay, then."

"Ailee?"

"You get to watch her closely, because I don't know what to watch for other than the obvious."

Drev smiled at her, wanting to change the mood and knowing just how to do it. "You haven't had your regulation cup of caf today, have you?"

"No, and I'm abstaining for the week."

"Should we wait while you get nice and cafinated to start the meeting?"

"Drev..."

"What?"

"Stop making fun of me."

Drev shook his head and patted her on the shoulder. "Just trying to lighten the mood."

"You fail miserably." But her eyes said otherwise and it almost seemed to him that she was holding back a smile.

* * *

Drev looked at the people gathered in his living room for a meeting that constituted gross treason against their legal government and sorely wanted to shake his head. They were a slightly mixed group of an amnesiac he'd met only the day before, a medic who just happened to be his sister, an undecover CorSec agent who was posing as administrative personelle in the hospital where his sister worked, and eight other people from Dorthus Tal and the surrounding towns. It was just the human part of the resistance, as Selonians and Dralls joining them would have drawn too much attention. Glancing at his sister, Drev raised an eyebrow. "You want to go first?"

"Not really," Ailee told him with a smirk. "What was this info you happened to come across, hmm?"

Drev pulled a datapad out of a pocket and handed it to her. "Non-emergency details of the garrison left behind by a very inebriated officer. That's it, really. Don't know if it'll be any good after the incident yesterday, though."

Ailee thumbed through the data with the smile of a child in a candy store. "No, this is perfect."

"It is?" a man Drev didn't know that well asked.

"Yes, because there is an alliance-wide request for an Imperial shuttle, and the garrison will calm down if no one blows anything else up."

Darvis chuckled. "Right, like we were planning on blowing anything up..."

"Shut up, Darvis," Ailee muttered, and Drev didn't miss her wary glance at Taloh.

Drev decided to change the subject and cleared his throat, making everyone look at him. "We're going to steal an Imperial shuttle?" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Taloh stiffen. Something to ask her about later...

"Yes," Darvis told him. "So sayeth your sister yesterday afternoon."

Drev really had to wonder if those two were more than the annoying front that they kept showing to everyone. It wasn't really that great of a cover if that was the case. "Right..."

* * *

Later, after everyone but Ailee left, Drev turned to Taloh in question. "What did you see?"

"What do you mean?"

"Ailee said you were having flashes of memory and then during the meeting, you had another one. So what did you see?"

Taloh looked away, biting her lip in thought. "Trees with pink flowers, mostly... and a smell. It was arid, what a desert would smell like, I think. And... it's weird, but... a feeling of a piece of jewelry, a cuff, that I feel like I should be wearing on my upper left arm that jangles. Almost like a brand, but metal."

"That's why you grabbed your arm earlier," Ailee said with a sudden realization. "And here I thought it was something else..."

Drev threw a glare at her, then turned his attention back to Taloh. "There, you see? You know a little more than you did."

"It is a bunch of disjointed images and sensations that includes an airplane," Taloh told him in a very flat tone of voice. "How is that helpful?"

Drev shook his head. "You are looking at it wrong... A little at a time, all right? Your memory is not going to return all at once, but gradually."

"True," Ailee told her. "Even if it could conceivably return all in a rush, you can't expect it to. Amnesia doesn't work that way."

"It would be expecting too much, wouldn't it," Taloh asked, subdued, though she understood that they were both doing their best to comfort her.

"Yes. It would."

* * *

It was quiet in the kitchen as Drev made dinner for the two of them. He had invited Ailee to stay, but she had begged off, stating that she'd not had enough sleep and planned to be dead to the world for 12 hours. He glanced over at Taloh, once again drawing something on a piece of flimsy, and shook his head.

She was right... so many mysteries.

A hum reached his ears and Drev turned again to look at her. It was a low, wordless hum that sounded like an off-beat song, but not one he'd heard before. And as he watched, she seemed to start rocking almost imperceptibly in time with the hum.

Not wanting to interrupt her train of thought and also finding it soothing, Drev turned back to his food preparation. It was nice to know she could sing, even if it was a hum with no words.

* * *

Drev set the plate in front of her as she set her drawing aside and flashed him a smile. He froze at the appearance of knowledge, of maturity... of sheer age and wisdom reflected in her gaze. Then she blinked and the weight seemed to vanish and slide away as if it had never been. "Um... would you like some water, or..."

Taloh sighed and got up out of her chair. "Enough. Sit, Drev."

"But..."

"Sit. You've been waiting on me all day, now it's my turn." She glared at him until he sat. "Good. Now where are your water glasses?"

"In the cupboard."

She turned and frowned. There was more than one cabinet in this kitchen. Not wanting to ask again, Taloh opened cabinets until she found the glasses. Filling them, Taloh returned to the table and sat down. Then she sighed as she realized that there was no silverware, and got up to go find that.

Drev watched her as she rummaged through drawers until at last she found the eating utensils. "You had only to ask, you know."

"Your first answer wasn't that helpful, so no... besides, I like scavenger hunts." Setting the silverware down, she frowned at him. "Or I think I do..." Shrugging, she sat down again and they started to eat.

"You made rice?" she asked after a few minutes of companionable silence.

Drev smiled at her. "You wanted it this morning."

"Ah..." She looked at him and, for a moment, it wasn't Drev sitting across from her, but a woman with dark hair and narrow eyes, wearing what appeared to be an ornate dress with a sash. Startled, Taloh gasped and dropped her fork, blinking as what had to be a vision faded and Drev returned.

"Taloh?"

Taloh shook her head and avoided his eyes. She had recognized the woman, even if names were failing her and being elusive. For a moment, just a moment, something had seemed normal, even if she didn't know why. "I'm fine, Drev."

"Hmmm... I'll take that with a grain of salt, if you don't mind. Eat before it gets cold."

"Drev?"

"What?"

As she found the courage to look at him, she wanted to tell him what she'd seen, but the expression in his eyes made her pause. There was something there that she couldn't quite identify... it felt like it should have been familiar, as if she'd seen it lots of times. Shrugging, she took a bite and chewed some before swallowing. "You cook very well."

"Thank you."

* * *

A while later, after dinner was over and the dishes cleared, Taloh was drawing again and Drev made it a point to look over her shoulder. What had taken shape was a portrait of a woman he'd never seen before and he blinked at how real she seemed, as if she could have jumped right off the page and winked at him.

Picking up one of the flimsies she'd set aside, he frowned at the round circlet with what looked like little tags hanging off of it. She was right... it did look like it would have been a kind of brand for the arm. "You could hang these on the wall in here if you want to."

Taloh stopped and looked up at him. "Why?"

"For a visual aide. So you can see them? To just stack them in a pile somewhere doesn't seem to make much sense."

Taloh considered that idea, then nodded. "I'll think about it... Though it seems a bit much to clutter up your walls like that, Drev."

"No such thing as clutter when it comes to art." He glanced at her and saw the beginnings of a smile. It wasn't much, but at least it seemed like she felt better.


	6. Art Appreciation and Hidden Romance

Weeks ago...

* * *

He sat down next to her at the end of the drill exercise to test emergency response at the clinic and tapped her knee. "You did well out there today, Miss..."

She startled at the contact and looked at him, blinking. "I'm sorry?"

"You did well," he repeated.

She stared at him for a long moment before nodding and looking away again. "Thanks."

"Something on your mind, Ailee?"

"Not really... just resisting the urge to sew up that gash on your hand."

Now it was his turn to blink, and he looked down, finding there was indeed a tear in his skin... Why hadn't he noticed it before? "Um..."

She smiled and held out a hand. "Come on, Mr. Melyan. Let's do something about that, hmm?"

He nodded and accepted the offer with his uninjured hand.

* * *

Ailee sat him down at a table in the cafeteria. "How'd you get that gash? There wasn't anything sharp out there, really."

Darvis shrugged. "Just happened like all things happen." He wanted to shy away from the coldness of the topical anesthetic, then she pulled out a small but wicked-looking curved needle. "Tell me you aren't going to use that."

"Of course I am, Darvis. This is what we use to fix flesh, though it be non-pleasing to the eye. You're not afraid of needles, are you?"

"Not really..."

"Then there's nothing to be afraid of."

"Couldn't you use synth-flesh instead?"

"No."

He sighed. "But it does the same thing."

Ailee paused in what she was doing and looked up at him with a frown. "Since when are you a medic?"

He stared back at her, not wanting to give one inch. Especially when she had a needle in his currently numbed hand. Finally he had to look away. "Since never, I suppose."

"Then don't tell me that synth-flesh does the same thing. It's used to treat burns. You know what kind of burns." She glared at him one more time and then resumed her task.

"Miss Hallan?"

"Yes?"

At her tone in just that one word, he decided not to continue that line of thought. "Nothing."

She snorted with repressed laughter and then patted his arm. "There. All done."

He looked down to find that she had sewn it up expertly. His hand was still numb, though. "How long until I can feel anything with it?"

"Give it an hour... and nothing too strenuous with all that typing you must do thereafter," she told him with a humorous smile. "Wouldn't want to have to patch you up again, after all."

Darvis wasn't certain what to make of her. One moment she seemed ready to yell at him, the next she was cracking jokes about patching him up. What an odd person she was... then again, maybe it was the caf she always seemed to have in her hand. As he watched her get up from the table and start to see what needed doing, he shook his head. There were worse undercover assignments than this one.

* * *

Ailee closed the door to the office and smiled as Darvis wrapped his arms around her from behind. They weren't able to do more than talk in code in the hallways, which made his office the best place for talking... he routinely checked it for bugs. "That went better than I thought it would. Have any bruises?"

"Haven't we had this conversation way too often, Ailee?"

"You're the one who stormed in there, demanding information from the guy and ended up being shot at. You do something stupid, I get to be medical and ask."

"I'm fine."

"How is your hand?"

"We are not going there again, Ailee." There would be time for questions later. For now... she let him reassure her of the fact that he was fine with a touch and a kiss. Make that a little more than a kiss... and she nearly let out a curse when there came a knock at his office door.

They looked at each other for ten seconds before he went to answer the door. Some things would have to wait for real life liked to intrude so often.

* * *

Now...

* * *

Ailee opened the door to her apartment, entered quietly, closed it and then leaned hard against the door, glaring in frustration at the wall. Of all the stupid things... she had to worry about her brother's houseguest AND the undercover CorSec agent nearly letting the proverbial cat out of the bag?!

Propelling herself off the door, she made her way to the living room, where she wanted to smack the man sitting on her couch reading a datapad. "You're an idiot."

Darvis looked up at her, frowning at her forthrightness. "Did I do something wrong at the meeting?"

"Yes. Darvis, it's one thing to antagonize me in front of hospital personell... but entirely another to do it in front of my brother. He's a people watcher for pity's sake!" She sat down and mock-punched his arm. "Don't do that again... unless you want to tell him exactly how and why we're together."

Darvis continued to frown. "And that would be bad... why?"

Ailee sighed. "It wouldn't. I'm sure he would be very happy about it... will be happy about it when I finally want to tell him. I just want to keep this to ourselves right now. There is enough going on without our... drama."

Darvis chuckled at her explanation. "Just us and my parents, you mean."

"You told them?"

"My parents are in law enforcement themselves and I have never been able to keep anything from them." He set the datapad down and turned to face her completely. "So... that woman you were talking to? The one who was drawing on those flimsies?"

The subject change was sudden, even for him, and Ailee couldn't help but frown. "What about her?"

"It's strange, but... I get this sense that there's something more there. I don't know why, but when I talked to her for that brief greeting we had, I got the impression that something was trying to bubble up, as if from under the surface. Almost as if something else was keeping it down. Does that make any sense to you?" She took a very long moment to stare at him in abject, total silence. "What?" he asked, wondering if he'd said something wrong. "Ailee?"

Ailee blinked and had to shake her head as she gathered her thoughts. "That's surprisingly accurate."

"It is?"

"She has amnesia."

"Oh." Now it was his turn to blink and be startled. "I didn't startle her too badly, did I?"

Ailee smiled. "No. I think you lightened the mood unintentionally. That's a good thing... Now how did you get the impression that there are bubbles when you barely talked to her?"

Darvis shrugged. "Don't know."

She stared at him thoughtfully, thinking through what he'd said about his parents in the weeks they'd been together, and how earlier he'd said that he wasn't able to keep things from them. Did that have to do with something more than the law enforcement background? Either way, it made her suspicious... and it sounded familiar. What had they said in her Imperial orientation about Force sensitivity? Something about feelings and perception? "What time is it on Corellia, Darvis?"

He glanced at his chrono, mentally calculating for the time differences. "2300 hours at headquarters. Why?"

"Just wondering." If it was something to focus on, she'd take it. Even if what she suspected really wasn't the case, it was still something to focus on. That, her brother's interesting houseguest, and shuttle theft. She couldn't believe she'd just added shuttle theft as a priority thing to worry about... "When did you last call your parents?"

"Last week... Is that why she was drawing?"

"It was, yes." Shrugging, Ailee decided to let it drop for the moment and leaned closer to him. "So what is on that datapad, hmmm?"

"Nothing much. Schematics."

* * *

Ailee was jolted out of a sound sleep by an annoying beeping noise. It took a few moments for the cobwebs to lift enough to realize it was the comm unit on the other side of her bedroom in her darkened apartment. Right... she was on call, even if all she wanted to do was sleep. If it wasn't one thing, it was another. "Medic Hallan," she said as she answered it without looking to see who was on the other end.

"Ailee?" Drev's voice asked tenatively.

Ailee blinked and focused on the comm screen. "Hi... What?"

"It can wait until morning. Sorry."

"Drev, I have crazy medic hours. Out with it."

He seemed really pensive. "What are we going to do with Taloh while I'm working?"

"Take her with you," Ailee said after she yawned. It took a moment to register that he was glaring at her. "Or not. I'll talk to Pettia in a couple of hours, see what can be done."

"Sorry I woke you."

"Don't be. We are family and we're supposed to call at weird hours. Going back to bed now. 'Night." As she punched the button, Ailee snorted to herself. Of all the things to worry about... Dragging herself back to her warm bed, she snuggled up against the man lying there.

"What he want?" Darvis sleepily wondered.

"Let me worry about it," she mumbled as she let sleep take her again. Soon, there was only the sound of light snoring heard in the apartment.

* * *

Taloh was asleep, dreaming of a woman climbing an endless ladder, of another woman who seemed familiar interrupting the endless climb. The woman on the ladder suddenly looked down at the 'ground' in realization. She got down off the ladder and the two of them talked for a little while.

Taloh got closer and heard something about... choices?

"...because, in fifty years, you will be given a choice. I was given the opportunity to tell you now so you can think on it and understand what the choice means. To yourself as well as others."

The voice that answered back was her own. "I understand, Arvina."

"Do you really?"

They talked a while longer before the woman who sounded like herself vanished from the dreamscape. Then the other woman, Arvina, turned to her and visibly winced. "Now that... unexpected."

"What is?" Taloh wondered. She knew she was dreaming... that conversation had sounded familiar. "And who was that? She sounded like me."

Arvina glanced upward with a glare, sighing. "Having to give you the same talk on the same day. What do you remember, sister?"

At that word, Taloh got a mental image of sand dunes and buildings and a river... and felt again that circlet that should have been on her arm and wasn't. "Home."

"That's a good start."

"Good start? What is that supposed to mean?"

Arvina shook her head. "That is not something I can tell you. I am here to help, to be a guide, but that is all. Remembering home in the desert is a very good start."

"What happened to my..." Taloh trailed off when she saw that Arvina was suddenly holding it. "Yes. That."

Arvina handed the metal circlet to her. "You know the answer, you just don't want to tell yourself you know yet."

Taloh studied the circlet, taking in the weight and feel of it, imagined wearing it on her arm with the three pieces chinking while she went about the half remembered routine of a servant... and the answer came to her, as if it had been a bubble just waiting to burst open. "The day I left for good, this was what I left behind. To honor a memory... a person." She frowned. "What do pink trees have to do with it?"

Arvina laughed. "That is a different memory."

"It is?"

"More recent than the sand."

"Arvina, have you..." They both turned to find a woman in a decorated leather dress and mocassins standing there, slack-jawed as she stared at Taloh. "Wow... so that's what you look like without the weight of ages on your shoulders."

"Running Moon," Arvina said slowly and deliberately to capture her attention.

"What?"

"Something you need?"

Running Moon blinked at her for a moment before shaking her head in the negative. "No. I think I just got my answer. Need any help?"

"No. Go annoy your charge or something." Arvina waited until Running Moon was out of earshot before she returned her attention to Taloh. "I'll make this brief. Your memory? It'll return a little at a time, and some of it you won't completely understand."

"I don't understand it now as it is."

Arvina nodded. "I know... Trust Drev, Sister. Let his family help you."

"What was that you said earlier about a choice?"

Arvina cringed, sighing as she did so. "You already made it. Will make it... or did. Time is relative here and I get confused as to which it is. What you saw WAS you, Taloh. Just not the you, you are right now. So any talk of choice making? Irrelevant." At Taloh's expression of incredulity, Arvina shrugged. "It's a causality paradox. In the infinite space of time, who cares?"

"I do."

"Worrying about it now gets you nowhere."

Something new filtered into Taloh's knowledge. A name and a face... the shadowy man she'd drawn while Drev had left her alone to do his chores. "Seti." And all at once, she knew why she'd left her circlet behind and for whom.

"Yes."

"Then how... You're not going to answer that, are you?"

"No. You have to find the answers on your own. I will be here as often as you need me, but..." Arvina motioned to paintings now floating around them. "Somehow, I think you have it well in hand."

"Arvina?"

"Hmmm?"

"Were you this annoying in life?"

"Maybe... But how do you know I died, hmm?"

Taloh continued to stare at her... something clicking all of a sudden. "It was a long time ago, wasn't it?"

"A lot of things were a long time ago."

"And you are going to torture me with riddles."

"I'm your sister and that is in the job description," Arvina told her with a smile.

Taloh woke to find herself in a guest room that wasn't completely familiar and she had to sit there for a moment as reality righted itself in her mind once more. Drev had set it up for her the night before, murmuring something about the regrettable colors in the curtains and the bedspread. As she sat up and looked around, Taloh smiled. She rather liked the brown and muted pink... it was soothing.

Slowly, she got out of bed, the amnesia not seeming as insurmountable as it had the day before.

* * *

Drev opened his front door to find both his sisters standing there on his doorstep. "Good morning."

"Drev, you ever wake me up like that again when it isn't an emergence, I will hurt you," Ailee told him as they entered and he closed the door.

Pettia, his other sister, sighed and shook her head. "Ailee, threats of bodily harm don't work coming from you."

"I didn't say how," Ailee told her with a smirk. She looked at Drev. "Where's..."

"Still sleeping," Drev told her as he led them to the kitchen. "You're right about her talking in her sleep."

Pettia saw the pieces of flimsy taped to the wall and frowned. "Where did those drawings come from?"

"Taloh drew them in an effort to remember more," Drev told her. "Putting them up just seemed to make sense. Plus, they're good."

Pettia stepped closer to get a better look and found herself smmling in appreciation. The style was simple but detailed, and each drawing captured her attention as if it were the only thing on the wall. "Drev?"

"What?"

She pointed to one that seemed to be a man covered in shadow. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that was you."

Drev blinked in surprise at her assessment, and shook his head. That had been one that had made him pause as they mounted the drawings. "She said it came to her when I left her alone yesterday."

"You what?" Ailee asked, shock coloring her voice.

"I needed to do some house work," he clarified. Statisfied at his answer, Ailee nodded.

Pettia studied the art for a few moments more before turning to them. "You say this mystery person of yours drew those? The one you're worried about leaving alone for long stretches of time?"

Drev nodded. "Yes."

"And she has some form of amnesia?"

"Yes," Ailee told her. "Not total, because she remembers basic things like her own name and how to draw, but very definitely amnesia."

Pettia considered that answer while again studying the art work. Then she nodded. "Okay."

"Okay what?" Drev wondered.

"I'll spend time with the girl so you can go to work. If she's as compelling as her art work, I would love to meet her." Pettia smiled. "I'm sure the children would, too."

Drev laughed quietly. "It'd be a little different for them, wouldn't it?"

Pettia nodded. "It would."

A kind of shuffling noise captured their attention and the three of them turned to find Taloh, seemingly half asleep, had joined them in the kitchen. Drev started to move toward her, but Ailee stopped him with a hand to his shoulder. "Ailee..."

"She's not an invalid, amnesia notwithstanding," Ailee told him knowingly. "I'm not certain she's awake, either."

"I'm awake," Taloh mumbled as she got herself a glass of water.

Ailee blinked. I stand corrected. Good morning, Taloh."

"Boker Tov," Taloh replied after she drank her water and shuffled back out of the kitchen.

"What did she say?" Pettia wondered.

"Don't mind that," Drev told her. "Presumably she meant 'good morning' and momentarily forgot which language she was speaking."

Ailee frowned at him. "She did that to you, too?"

"Yesterday, when she slipped into another language and suddenly realized we've been speaking basic, as if that wasn't normally what she would have been speaking."

"Oh." Ailee frowned as she looked toward the kitchen door. That made sense. Not a lot, but some.

~*~*~*~

Taloh entered the living room to find Drev chatting pleasantly with a woman she didn't recognize. "Um..." She knew Ailee had been here, but who was this?

Drev turned at the sound of her voice and smiled. "Good morning again, Taloh."

Taloh nodded, still wondering who the woman was. "Good morning. Where's Ailee?"

"Come join us," Drev told her as he patted the couch. "Ailee has a clinic shift today, so she couldn't stay."

Taloh nodded and joined them, taking a seat next to Drev. "Ah."

The woman smiled at her. "It's nice to meet you when you are fully alert, Taloh."

Taloh blinked and turned to peer at Drev. "Who is this person?"

"My other sister, Pettia."

"Oh."

They sat there in silence until Pettia sighed. "Drev..."

"What?" He blinked for a few moments as she stared at him with raised eyebrows, and then it clicked. "Oh, right. Sorry. Taloh, Pettia is here so I can go to work. Do you mind tagging along with her today?"

Taloh frowned at him. He didn't want her to be left alone, that much was certain. Turning to Pettia, she smiled as she studied the other woman. "I would be glad to. That is, if Pettia herself doesn't mind."

"Of course I don't mind," Pettia told her with a reassuring smile. "Do you like children?"

Taloh blinked, an image coming to her of a small child, maybe two or three years old, with hair the color of darkened chocolate. For a moment, she could almost put a name to the face, and then it seemed to slip between her fingers and disappear again as she took a deep breath. "Yes... or I think I do..."

"Good, because I manage a day care." Pettia turned to Drev in question and he nodded. "It's a good thing I've got a healthy supply of flimsy, isn't it?"

Drev laughed. "Yes, it is. Colored pencils, too."

"Mmm..." Pettia stood up as she glanced at her wrist chrono. "It's time we be going, then."

"But," Taloh started to say, then realized Pettia was practically tapping her foot with impatience, even though she was standing still. "I don't have any shoes, and these scrubs I'm wearing are from the clinic."

Pettia sized Taloh up for a long moment with her eyes, then turned to Drev again. "Do you still have those trunks full of Mother's clothes?"

Drev nodded. "I couldn't get rid of them. They're in the basement." Pettia glanced at Taloh again, nodded once, and left the room, haste in her steps.

Taloh frowned. "Your mother's clothes? Drev, I couldn't impose like that."

"Let us do what we can," he told her gently. "You really can't walk around in something that has Dorthus Tal Municipal Clinic imprinted on them."

She glanced down and nodded when she saw the obvious printing. "Good point."

* * *

Translation: "Boker Tov": Good morning/good day (Hebrew language)


	7. Art Class, Boring Shifts, and Nightmares

Earlier...

* * *

A man was dreaming in his sleep... dreaming of something that made no sense to him.

_He was sitting at a table in a kitchen somewhere, staring forlornly at a mug of caf when his mother's voice broke through to him. "Your father called this morning." _

_"That's good," he replied automatically without looking up. _

_"Said to feed you a live Gundark."_

_"Okay." And then what she'd said, the ridiculousness of it, hit him and he looked at her. "What?"_

_She chuckled as she joined him at the table. "I knew you weren't listening. Is something wrong?"_

_"No, nothing. Why?" Even as he said it, the insincerity of the statement made him wince internally. _

_"You were staring at your caf instead of drinking it, son. Really, now. What's wrong?" _

_He looked away. "I'd rather not talk about it." _

_There was a silence which followed where she seemed to let it go, but of course she didn't. She knew him too well. "Did something happen at the wedding?"_

_Now he really was wincing, the directness not entirely unexpected. Of course she would see it and trace it. "Yes." _

_"Tell me." The request was simple, a request more than a command. She was giving him some leeway, and he appreciated it. _

_"I... knew someone." He finally looked at his mother and allowed her to see the unspoken pain in his eyes. "Elsie asked you to help with something, right?"_

_Slowly, she nodded. "Something about a ghost. Didn't make much sense."_

_"I knew the ghost." He looked away again. "I almost had to stop and walk away when I saw who it was on the datapad." _

_She reached across and held his hand securely. "I'm sorry, Darvis. I should have pulled myself away from Iris when Elsie asked for help." _

_He shook his head. "I'm glad I know, mother." _

_"But you shouldn't have found out that way, either."_

_"There is that." He glanced at the cup of caf, pushed it toward her. "Here."_

_She took the cup, frowned at him. "Don't you want it?"_

_"No." _

And then he awoke and just sat there, panting in the half light of dawn. He blinked, but the memory of a conversation that hadn't happened yet refused to fade. "What in the..."

"Darvis?" He turned to find Ailee standing there, dressed and ready to leave, and frowning at him. Slowly, she moved to sit next to him on the bed. "Are you all right? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Nightmare," he explained shortly, cupping her cheek and trying to smile. "Are you real?"

Ailee's frown deepened at that question, but she did not hesitated to answer it. "Of course. I... don't want to leave you here by yourself after a nightmare like that, but..."

He shook his head. "Go."

"You sure?" The expression in his eyes told her that he wasn't.

"I'm sure."

Ailee paused another moment, and then leaned in and kissed him soundly. When she pulled away, she nodded. "Drev needs me, or I'd stay. See you later?"

Darvis returned her nod. "Yes." He watched her go, and then turned his attention to the comm unit in the corner. There was a call he needed to make, and this time, he wouldn't be waking her up.

* * *

Now...

* * *

The day care facility turned out to be a reasonably large, nice house about ten or so blocks from the neighborhood Drev lived in. Taloh sat in the kitchen, watching through a door as Pettia smiled and greeted parent after parent as they dropped off their children for the day. It felt like something normal, routine, watching the parents be reassured that their little ones would be fine if they left. Taloh wasn't completely certain, but maybe part of that need to be reassured had to do with the garrison being on high alert due to so-called 'terrorist activities,' which Pettia had told her about but not gone into that great of detail. She wasn't sure she'd ever been in an information vacuum before, but now it felt like it. And that thought was oddly comforting, even if she wasn't certain why.

An hour had gone by before Pettia joined her at the table with a smile and a glass of something orange. "Feel like helping some," she asked as she placed the glass in front of Taloh.

"I guess," Taloh told her as she looked from the glass to Pettia and back again. "Is this orange juice?"

"Sure is." Pettia started to frown as Taloh stared at it for far longer than she'd expected. "Is something wrong?"

"No. Just suddenly feel guilty for some reason." Taking hold of the glass, Taloh drained it in two gulps. Then she blinked as the taste resonated in her mouth like a long-forgotten song. "Rationing. We didn't have oranges, let alone juice. Not in months."

"Taloh?"

"And I don't know what that means or why there was rationing in effect." She handed the glass back to Pettia, trying to return a smile she wasn't quite feeling. "Thank you."

Pettia pursed her lips for a long moment, glanced through the kitchen door in consideration, and then looked at Taloh again. "Can I trust you around children? You'd be the person to know. My gut says I can, but this is more oddness than I was expecting."

Hesitating only briefly, Taloh nodded. "I'm not going to hurt anyone. And if I feel like I can't handle it, I'll pull myself away and come back and sit in here."

Pettia studied her with calculating eyes before nodding in acceptance. "Is that a promise?"

"It is."

"Fair enough," Pettia said as she stood up and motioned for Taloh to follow her.  
Taloh followed the woman out of the kitchen and into an activity room just off the living room where several children were playing. A small boy drew her attention because he wasn't doing anything but staring out the window. Curious, Taloh put a hand on Pettia's shoulder to get her attention before she said anything. "What?"

Taloh motioned to the boy who couldn't have been more than eight years old, tops. "Him."

Pettia followed the motion, saw him, and nodded in understanding. "Ah. Don't worry. Tobrin always stares out the window. I prefer to let him join in if he chooses to, but only if he wants to."

Taloh frowned at that explanation, sensing there was more to it. The set of his posture reminded her of something, but she wasn't certain what.

"Think you can help with an art project?" Pettia asked, smiling as the kids stopped what they were doing to watch them.

Taloh looked around at the children, earnest and innocent, and nodded. "I think we could do that, yes." And why was she suddenly getting a pang of longing as she looked at them? Whatever it was, it would have to wait.

* * *

He sighed as he cleaned the bar with another rag. Ordinarily, he didn't mind the long shifts spent on his feet, watching and listening as people came and went. Ordinarily. Now, however, he had something else on his mind than work: the mystery woman living in his house.

How was it possible to be such a mystery to oneself like that? It was like an enigma rolled up inside confusion and decorated bizzarely with artwork.

The little things they'd learned together didn't form a complete picture, but it was slowly coming into focus. Maddeningly slowly. A little at a time... and maybe that was enough.

Eyes wandering as he stood there, Drev caught sight of two women about the same age entering to have a look around. Nothing seemed off about them, but there was this sudden sense he was getting that they didn't really belong. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen someone wear an orange jumpsuit... if he ever had. He knew his sister liked orange, but even she didn't wear it out in public flamboyantly.

"An ale," a patron ordered, sitting down at the bar in front of him. Drev refocused his attention quickly, chastising himself for being distracted, looked the man in the off-duty casual Imperial uniform, nodded, and went to fill the order. Curiosity could wait for a better time.

* * *

It hadn't taken much to draw Tobrin into things, Taloh found as she helped each of the children with their projects. Pettia had been right: only if he chose to participate, and if he wanted to, welcome his with open arms. He didn't talk much, and didn't seem to want to do the same project as everyone else, so she hadn't forced him to do so.

Kneeling beside the low table he was working at, she frowned at the image taking shape. Was that a sword? For some reason, the balance didn't look right, almost as if there was no weight in the blade. "What are you drawing?"

The little boy didn't look up as he continued to draw. "Something I saw in a recording my parents let me see."

"And the weapon?"

"It's a lightsaber," he told her.

Taloh nodded, filing that information away for later. "You draw very well, little one. Recording of what?"

"News reports from the Clone Wars." At that, he stopped and looked at her, suddenly seemingly aware of what he'd said. "You won't tell anyone I told you about it, will you?"

Taloh smiled comfortingly at him. "No, I won't tell anyone." He nodded and returned to drawing, leaving Taloh to wonder what was so bad that a small child was afraid of revealing information about things. She wouldn't tell anyone, all right... anyone but Pettia.

* * *

Drev was very glad the Imperial officer hadn't stayed very long, for it had been someone he vaguely recognized from infrequent visits. The officer had stayed long enough to ask pointed questions and drop subtle hints about being on the lookout for a suspect related to the bombing of the office not too far from the bar. Only, as he looked down at the glass with the suspicious indentations... he was pretty certain they didn't even have any idea whom they were looking for or even if that person was still alive and kicking.

Someone cleared their throat, and Drev looked up to find that woman in the orange jumpsuit and her friend sitting in at the bar now. "Can I get you something?"

The woman in the orange jumpsuit smiled slyly. "Well, I've always wanted to try Corellian Ale, but that's not why I'm here."

This was getting ridiculous. Were Alliance people just going to start coming out of the woodwork? He glanced at her companion. "And you?"

"Satisfying a curiosity," the woman told him succinctly, and the accented lilt of her voice made him blink. Almost as if she was concentrating hard on speaking Basic. "And I'll not have anything, either."

"All right," he said as he glanced down the bar to see if anyone else needed anything. There was only one other patron seated at the bar, and they'd been helped.

"Slow day?" the woman in orange asked him.

Drev nodded. "Yes."

"Bored?"

"No."

"That's good, then." She turned to her blue-clothed companion. "Well? Seen enough, Cara?"

Cara nodded slowly, studying him as she did so. "I think we have, yes. Have a good day, sir."

'I'll try,' he thought as he watched them leave. What had that been about? And what was with the cross-like patches on the one in the blue jump suit's shoulders? Very, very odd.

Soon, another patron demanded his attention and the incident was left forgotten.

* * *

That night, after all the children had been picked up by their parents, Pettia watched as Taloh cleaned up the art supplies to put them away. "You seemed to get on well with Tobrin."

"Nice boy who seems to have a talent for art," Taloh told her as she put the supplies into the cabinet she'd seen Pettia get them out of.

"I was surprised he got involved at all. Normally, he just stares out that window over there. Has since his grandfather died."

Taloh turned and looked at her. "You mean I helped? But all I did was talk to him!"

"Yes, you helped. By talking to him." Pettia wanted to laugh at the dubious expression on Taloh's face. "It's little things like that... and the thing that ends up helping someone? Not always obvious."

Taloh nodded, accepting that bit of advice. "He drew a picture, said it was from archive footage."

"Of?"

"Something called the Clone Wars."

Pettia stared at her for a long moment, startled at the nonchalant way she said it. "You don't know what that is, do you?" As Taloh shook her head, Pettia sighed. "Come on, then. I've got a data store you can read through."

"Pettia," Taloh tried to protest as she followed the woman to what looked like a desk. Set into the wall was a monitor, and Pettia pulled out something and laid it flat on the desk. It appeared to have letters on it in a very odd pattern. "You don't have to do that."

"Sure I do, and some things go better with an explanation. And it might help your memory." Pettia glanced back at her. "You ever used a computer before?"

"No. Not that I know of, anyway."

Pettia nodded and started moving her fingers, hitting letters on the flat pad thing. "Okay, I've got it up." She moved and made Taloh sit down, pointing to a particular spot that had a down-pointing arrow on it. "When you need the page to move up, you press that one, if you need to go back and read something again, you press the one above it. Understand?"

"Yes."

"Good. Read up."

Soon Taloh was reading and Pettia left her to it.

* * *

Drev entered Pettia's house without knocking and Pettia herself reading a data pad. "Long day?"

"Not too. She helped a lot, taught some."

"Where is she now?"

"Engrossed in a computer screen, learning about the Clone Wars... among other things." Pettia set her data pad down and smiled at him. "So how was your day?"

"Long," he said as he sat down beside her. "But then, you know that."

"Of course I do. That's why I asked. Hungry?"

"Starved."

Pettia laughed and pushed herself off the couch. "Let's see about that, then, shall we?"

Drev tried to smile. "You sure?"

"It's food, Drev. Of course I'm sure."

"All right, then."

* * *

She barely even blinked as someone pulled up a chair to sit beside her as she read the symbols that should have been completely foreign to her but weren't. It was an intriguing story... and heartbreaking at the same time.

"Pettia said you were learning about the Clone Wars," Drev said after a few minutes of silence.

Taloh finally pulled herself away from the screen to look at him. "Yes. It was... very involved, wasn't it?"

He nodded. "From what little managed to reach the general public, yes."

She took a moment to stare at him. "Little?"

Drev nodded. "It just seems like a lot because you've never seen it before, Taloh. You hungry?"

"Yes." She studied him and noticed that he seemed a little more than worn out. "Something happened."

"It's a bar, Glow Bug. Something always happens."

She let him drop it for now. "All right..."

He nudged her arm. "Come on. Pettia's making dinner and then we gotta head for home. There's a curfew in effect for a while."

"A what?" And for some reason, the word 'curfew' meant something more than just in the here and now. Weird.

"Means we have to be inside by a certain time."

"Ah." As she followed him, Taloh got the feeling she didn't want to know why there was a curfew in effect.


	8. Who says I'm going to ask?

A/N: As Taloh's identity is a mystery to her, but not the audience, there is a coinciding event in here that also happens in Chapter 12 of Wanting To Know.

* * *

Earlier in the day...

* * *

The incoming message had been vague and to the point: "We need to talk. Now." As Moira got her first glimpse of her son's weary eyes via the secure holonet, she wasn't disappointed. If nothing was wrong, he called in the middle of the night without fail, not middle of the morning after she'd had her caf and was awake enough to listen to him. "Darvis?"

He stared at her for long moments, eyes seemingly memorizing her face. Searching for something. "Have you been getting reports of people going missing in the vicinity of the double worlds?"

Whatever she'd been expecting him to say, it wasn't that. Glancing down at the reports on her desk, she frowned. He was errily accurate. "Yes."

"That pirate gang you've been tracking the activity of? It's them. They're on Tralus."

"How do you know that?" The answering silence made her return her gaze to him, to find that he was looking away from the comm station, biting his lower lip. She blinked and leaned in to study him closer. There were dark circles under his eyes, almost as if he'd not been getting near enough sleep. That, combined with what amounted to an annonymous tip, was worrying. "Answer me, young man." Because if he didn't give her a straight answer soon, she was going to go all the way to Sacorria and sit on him until he started giving straight answers.

"Had a dream," he finally admitted. "The parts I remember clearly involved the information I just told you and us talking."

The surprises just kept coming. No wonder he seemed a little more than pensive. "Us talking? About?"

"They're doing more than just abducting people against their will."

And, judging by the unreadable expression he presented her with, that was all he was going to say on the matter. "I'll accept that. You feeling okay?"

"Better now." He glanced out of the holofield again, then looked at her squarely. "I have to go, but promise me something."

"Within reason, son."

"Don't go poking into this case by yourself."

"I won't." And she meant it.

"Good." And with a nod, the screen went blank, and Moira was left to stare at it. Was it her imagination, or had he just unknowingly admitted to unconscious use of the Force? She was very, very glad that the Comm line had been secure.

Looking around at the activity of the CorSec squadroom, Moira made a decision. It was time. Time to embrace some small part of the culture abandoned for far, far too long.

* * *

Earlier in the day...

* * *

The old saying rang true: the more things were different, the more they were the same. It was a hospital clinic, it was less than a mile from the bar, and it was practically a moot point that someone who had been so out of it upon landing would find their way, or be helped, to here. "Figures... Friend, husband, or child?"

Her companion blinked, confused at the question. "What?"

"Never mind. What I'm about to do, just go with it and appear to be concerned, okay?"

Carnegie frowned as she watched Susan start to appear really nervous and twitchy. "All right..." She followed the younger woman, all the while wondering what she was doing.

A human woman at the reception window looked up and smiled at them. "Can I help you?"

Susan smiled hesitantly. "I was wondering. Could I have a tour of the clinic facility? This is the first time in the months since my husband's death that I've been able to go anywhere near a medical clinic. Getting over hurdles, you know?"

The reception person stared at her in shock for a moment before blinking, collecting herself, and nodding kindly. "I don't see why not-"

"I've got this one," a new voice interrupted, and they both turned to find a woman in light blue medical scrubs, alert hazel eyes, brown hair, and a cup of what appeared to be coffee in her hand. "A tour? Of a hospital?"

"If it's not too much to ask."

She smiled. "It's not." She beckoned Susan through the door she'd come out of, and as Susan passed her, a low chime was heard. Carnegie frowned again at the woman's momentary pause, wondering if perhaps they were pushing their luck, and sighed internally in relief when she just shrugged and held the door open so Carnegie could go along.

* * *

Now...

* * *

Pettia studied her brother as he ate slowly. He'd been oddly silent since sitting down to dinner, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that something had happened. "Coin for your troubled thoughts?"

Drev glanced up at her. "Not much to tell, Pettia."

Pettia looked at Taloh, who was also watching him as she ate. "Something happened at the bar, didn't it?"

"Pettia, just drop it. Please? The Imperial Navy has it's feelers out, investigating that explosion that happened this week. That's all it is."

Taloh put her fork down, now interested. "Explosion?"

"Yes, Taloh. An explosion. They've cordoned off the area where it happened for the duration of the investigation."

Pettia rolled her eyes. "And you were knee-deep in officers asking questions."

"Something like that."

"Ah." She motioned to his plate. "Sorry. Eat."

Drev shook his head. "Don't be sorry."

The rest of the meal passed without incident.

* * *

He found her sitting on his porch, staring at her hands. They'd not been home for long, but it was curious that she'd choose to sit outside. "You can come inside, you know."

Taloh glanced up at him, smiling. "I know. Join me?"

Darvis chuckled and sat down on the porch with her. "What with Pettia being all concerned about my day, I didn't hear how yours went."

Taloh smiled again. "It was interesting... I helped, helped, and helped some more. And there was art and teaching a little boy how to draw. Didn't know I could teach anyone how to draw like that."

"So you had fun."

"Yes." She leaned into him, blinking when she thought she saw someone wearing bright orange clothing in the dimming light. When she looked again, they were gone. "Aside from being badgered by officers, how was yours?"

"Busy."

They were silent for a few minutes, enjoying the warm evening. Drev frowned as a woman in a lavender business suit walked by, feeling Taloh tense beside him. What was it about something that simple that made her start? Very strange.

* * *

Before...

* * *

It was ladies night for the team. A night that the female members if the defense force set aside to have some fun and regain some perspective on life. So they had gone to a karaoke bar to relax.

Jill sighed as she watched Taloh stare off into space, apparently not really enjoying the music... or her drink, for that matter. "Are you alright?"

Startled, Taloh jumped a little at the sound of Jill's voice. "Huh? Oh. I'm fine, Jill. I guess I'm just not very good company tonight."

"That time of the millenium?" Jill asked, trying to figure out her teammate. She'd figured something was off when Taloh had showed up at her office earlier to ask if she'd wanted to join the rest of the team for a night out.

"That time of the..." Taloh stopped to glare at the psychiatrist. "No. It's not. I'm just thinking about stuff."

"Hmm... Which stuff?"

Taloh looked away and rubbed her eyes. "Bree and Seti. I miss them."

So that's what was bothering her. Jill nodded in understanding. She could relate to that. There were some people in her own past that she missed terribly. "But Bree won't be gone forever, right? Didn't Suna say she'd be back at some point?"

Taloh nodded dejectedly. "But that won't be for a long time. I'm sorry, Jill. I'm just not very good company tonight."

Jill frowned slightly. Was she aware that she'd just repeated herself?

Across the room, a man was sitting at the bar, watching and half-listening to the people who had enough guts (or were dared) to sing on the stage. The present singers were a tall, thin blonde and a short, stocky brunet. They were singing a song called 'Let There Be a Hurricane Tonight' and singing it really well.

Sitting at a table near the stage were two women, one he didn't recognize. The other looked familiar to him, but he wasn't sure why. She wasn't paying any attention to the girls on stage, just staring off into empty space.

He nearly hit his head on the bar a minute later when he suddenly realized who she was. He had known her once, a very long time ago.

Which was why, after a few moments of thought, he got up and went to go talk the DJ into starting up 'Earth Angel,' right after the lady wearing purple got done with 'The Rose.' When the woman finished her song and left the stage, he went up and took the microphone. He stood there for about ten seconds, feeling like an idiot. Then he said something. "This is for a lady I know." He smiled down at the woman who was now staring at him.

Taloh stared as the man went into a heart-pounding rendition of 'Earth Angel.' She knew him. But it was impossible... right?

Jill leaned over to her. "Someone you know?"

Taloh just nodded wordlessly. That was Seti... or looked like him. She'd only ever heard him sing once, and that had been a really odd drunken chant, but it was him.

As shell-shocked as Taloh was, she got the message he was trying to convey through the song. 'Would she be his?'

He had to ask?

* * *

Sacorria

* * *

Darvis frowned, not certain what to make of the package sitting on his desk. It was marked "Medical Documents - Confidential", addressed to his undercover identity, and had no return address. Carefully, he opened it. Inside was a note.

"Darvis,  
Your father and I had a long talk and we are both agreed. You are ready. Use the parts inside and follow the directions. As for what we think you are ready for... that's an explanation for the next time we see you in person.  
-Your Mother  
PS: There are two Corusca Jems included. Use the color you like best."

He stared at the note for a minute or two before opening the package to see what was inside. What he found appeared to be nothing more than spare parts... and the two jems his mother had mentioned. One was silver, the other was amber... almost orange. And then he found the datapad with the instructions. Activating it, he blinked at the detailed instructions. They wanted him to build a lightsaber?

He sat there for a moment or two more, staring at the contents in confusion. "Huh. Must have been some conversation."

Just then, a knock at his office door made him jump. He put everything back in the box and put it on the floor. Then he went to answer the door. Weird directives from parents could wait a while.

Opening the door, he found Ailee standing there with a pensive expression on her face and a packet in her hands. Stepping aside, he let her into his office and shut the door. "Ms. Hallan?"

"Can the professionalism, Darvis."

Instantly, he was at her side, arm around her waist. "Alright... how unprofessional would you like to be?"

Ailee stared right into his eyes, startled for a moment. Then she laughed and pushed him away. "I just meant to drop the administrator act. It's grating."

Laughing quietly, Darvis returned to his desk and sat down. "I agree with you there. Something you need?"

Ailee set the packet down on the desk, inviting him to look through it with her hand. "I did something illegal three days ago."

"Oh?" Darvis wondered as he opened the folder and read thru the information. Then he paused and looked up at her, confused. "What is this?"

"Those are Taloh's labs and workup. The real reports, not the ones I had to fabricate, forge, and bury in the system when I realized what the reports indicated."

Darvis frowned. She'd fabricated... medical files? "And why are you giving this to me?"

"Because I need to be truthful to at least one person... and I'm now certain I know what caused that explosion that put the garrison on full alert. Her. Whatever it is, however she ended up irradiated when there were no radiation leaks anywhere on Sacorria that night... doesn't matter. And everything I could do while hiding a person in my on-call room during a state of semi-emergency, I did. And I used clinic resources and hid the fact that I did do it. That we were rushing around treating troopers at the time didn't hurt, either."

Darvis nodded after a long minute, digesting all of that. "And?"

"And it's wrong to lie."

"Ah. Consider it hidden and forgotten."

Ailee can around the desk and slowly sat down on his lap, draping her arms around him. "I love you for understanding."

"Just for that?"

"Maybe more." She continued to smile, leaning closer to him conspiratorially. "And you know how I said I had to hide what I did?"

"Yes. What about it?"

"I hid it in employee records. Mine. The good news? I'm not pregnant."

Darvis blinked. "What?"

"That's how I hid the tests I did on her. I tested myself for my annual physical." She frowned suddenly. "Do you think they'll wonder why it was three months early?" She shrugged and got out of his lap, pecking him on the cheek as she did so. "See you later?"

"Right..." Darvis watched her leave, wondering if he should be happy that she'd tell him something like that... or disappointed that she wasn't pregnant. He liked kids.

* * *

He found her in the kitchen, sitting at the table and staring at a flimsy. On anyone else, her expression would have been confusion. "Something wrong?"

"Not really," she told him after a moment of silence. "Unless Jill making fun of my age is wrong."

Drev frowned. This was new, and rather than startle her out of whatever memory was surfacing, he decided to go along with it. "I must have missed that one."

"Seeing as you were on stage at the time, yes, you did." She snorted suddenly, startling him... her voice was carrying a slightly different accent. Was that normal? "That time of the millenium, indeed."

Drev wondered momentarily just what whomever she'd been talking to had been doing on stage. "Maybe she didn't mean to offend you."

"No. She was trying to cheer me up. Didn't really work, as I always feel older than dirt."

"You're not."

"Not what?"

"Older than dirt."

She glanced at him with raised eyebrows. "Oh?"

Drev had to force himself not to blink or otherwise react to the weight behind her gaze that he'd only really seen glimpses of before. Was that her, underneath the amnesia? "No. You are not old."

She chuckled, stood up and clasped his hand tightly. "Sweet of you to say, Daniel. Even if you are lying."

"Who says I'm lying? I really don't think you're old." Daniel? Who was Daniel?

And then she kissed him and Drev ceased to care about who this 'Daniel' person was. When Taloh pulled away, she frowned at him. "Drev?"

So she was back with him now? Good. "Yes?"

"This can't happen between us."

"Why not?"

For a moment, she seemed to know. The moment passed and she shook her head, frustrated. "I don't know."

Drev looked down at the flimsy she'd been looking at, and frowned. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that was a panoramic view of a city-wide blast zone."

"It is. And I recognize the city, even if I can't put a name to it."

He picked up another drawing, this one of a building standing on the edge of a aqueduct. The building had definitely seen better days. "And this?"

"That and the cityscape are related. It might have been the closest building left standing after whatever caused the city to look like that happened." She sighed in frustration. "But I don't know."

He looked at her to find that she was staring at the pictures they'd put up on the wall, specifically at the one of the unknown aircraft. "Taloh?"

"It's a bomber," she said as she moved closer to get a better look, gesturing with one hand for the other one he'd been looking at. He handed it over without hesitation. "These two are related to that one."

"They are?"

"Yes. Whatever a bomber was doing there... it caused..." Her voice trailed off and she just stood there, motionless, for a few seconds. Then she whirled to face him, eyes wide. "That."

"Taloh?"

She didn't respond as she sat hard down on the kitchen floor... and began to shake. And glow.

In the space of a heartbeat, drawings forgotten, he rushed to her side. Without stopping to think, Drev put his arms around her, and the glow enveloped them both. It was... gentle. Soothing. Harsh. "I'm right here, Taloh. It's okay."

_A memory not his own washed over him and suddenly he was standing on an intact city street. It was morning, and he could hear the sounds of life going on around him. Saw people dressed in clothing unfamiliar going about their morning routines, and a bird chirping overhead caused him to look upward. And freeze in mid-thought. There was that plane from the drawing, way, way, way up high in the sky. _

_And then everything went white... and he was waking up in a hilltop meadow to look down and see a town in a valley. _

_Trekking through warm summer heat and heavy underbrush to make it to town, only to realize the state of his clothes. _

_Reading a newspaper with a date he didn't understand, declaring a war over... with mention of a bombing. _

_Going home to find an overly panicked and beautiful housemate, called Bree, wanting to know where he'd been for a week and a half. _

_Seeing the blast zone, the same place where he'd been standing a week earlier, now in a state of utter destruction. Collapsing into Bree's arms, arriving back home, and crying himself to sleep._

And then he became aware of his kitchen again, and blinked as she relaxed into him. "Taloh?"

"You know," Ailee's voice said from somewhere in front of them. "Normally, when a man and a woman are sitting on the floor together, there's a different context. And no one is glowing."

"I'm fine," Taloh mumbled. "You can let go now."

Drev snorted softly. "Well, I'm not fine and I don't wanna. What was that?"

"A memory," she told him honestly. "It's okay to hate that bomber crew, right?"

"Yes. Even in a memory, it hurt." He glanced at Ailee, sitting in a chair and looking at them funny. "What?"

"You shared a memory with her? How?"

"She was glowing. That might have been it."

"Partly," Taloh told him. She looked up at Ailee. "When did you get here?"

"Couple minutes ago. What was the memory?"

Drev studied Taloh's face as she tried to form a response or an explanation for something that wasn't easy to explain, even if she did know the context, and he wasn't sure she did. "You don't have to say."

"Yes. I do." She pecked him on the cheek and again he saw that peculiar weight in her gaze. "I think... this is very complicated, so you'll just have to bear with me... I had a dream night before last of my sister telling what looked like me, only not me, the me I am right now, that I had a choice to make. And then, as weird as it sounds, she turned to me after the other one left and proceeded to talk in riddles and say that my memory would return a little at a time. And also to trust you two and that, whatever the choice was, it didn't matter or concern me because it had already been made... even though I'd just seen her talking about it."

Silence resounded as Ailee and Drev processed that information, both blinking as they did so. Somehow, that made sense. A very weird kind of sense.

"And what does that have to do with being blown up?" Drev wondered, only now realizing he knew what the burning white flash had been. No wonder she had run out of the bar like that.

"Because the waking up in that hilltop meadow, hiking to town, and finding out it was a week later... didn't happen to me." Taloh frowned. "Or did it? First thing I remember right after the flash is waking up in that alley not far from the bar."

Ailee pulled her chair closer to them. "So... you remember it both ways?"

"Yes... and Jill making fun of my age in a Karaoke bar."" Taloh looked directly at Drev. "Don't ever sing on stage to me, all right?"

"Is that another memory? I'm getting confused."

"It is. Feels like a long while after the other one." She frowned at Ailee. "You said my clothes were irradiated?"

"They were, yes."

"With a radiation count as high as the one I had, left unchecked and untreated, that could kill someone, right?"

"Yes."

"Even someone with extra added protection... especially if the extras were taken away." Suddenly, Taloh had to bite back a laugh. "So that's what she meant. I made it already, but I have no idea why I made it or what the circumstances were that led to making it, or even what the choice was. Or the importance."

Ailee coughed, startling them both. "Sorry. What's a karaoke bar?"

Taloh chuckled. "A bar where people get drunk and sing... usually badly. And for some reason, I'm associating that with a guy who has green skin and reads people when they sing. Don't ask me to explain that one, because I can't."

Drev frowned. "On the off chance that a sound system is installed at the bar, I promise not to ever sing to you."

"Though it would be sort of romantic," Taloh told him with a teasing smile.

"Right... so here's what we've figured out: your amnesia is just a little more complicated than we thought, you have that horrible memory of being blown up or something like it, you know someone named Jill who tried to cheer you up with a bad age-related joke, and someone else named Daniel who, if I'm understanding this correctly, sung to you in a Karaoke bar. And you either older than dirt, or think you do, or did." Drev paused, taking a breath and considering what he'd just said. "Did I miss anything?"

"Yes. My sister talks in riddles and is annoying."

At that, Ailee couldn't resist a chuckle. "Sounds like family, all right. What's her name and is there a drawing of her on this wall of art you've got going?"

"Arvina..." Taloh glanced up at the wall in thought. Low and behold, she had. "Up there in the corner. The one with the background that seems to be an ocean."

Ailee stood up to get a better look at the one indicated, and couldn't help but smile in puzzlement. "Pretty, but what's up with the outfit?"

"We were servants. That's all I've been able to remember."

"And... is that a sea of sand dunes?"

"Good eye."

Ailee turned back to look at them. "Were you born on Tatooine?"

"Never heard of it before."

Drev stared up at the wall of flimsies, frowning when he saw something oddly familiar. He'd seen someone in one of those before. "Huh. That one up there next to the... tree thing. Looks like a tree. Not that one, but the one next to it... I think I talked to her yesterday. She was wearing a lot of orange."

Taloh frowned at him as she followed his line of sight. "You talked to Susan yesterday?" Then she blinked, stunned that a name would just roll off her lips. "Was she with anyone else?"

"Yes. A woman wearing a blue tunic, matching leggings... there were cross-like patches on the shoulders of the tunic." He looked at her to find her staring up at that picture in puzzlement. "Taloh?"

"I knew I saw someone wearing orange out of the corner of my eye last night. They were there one second, gone the next. It was dark, so I didn't get a very good look. I drew that after we came inside, Drev."

Drev glanced at Ailee, who hadn't said a word at the mention of orange clothing. "Did you have anyone wearing orange drop by the clinic yesterday?"

Ailee nodded. "Yes. She wanted a tour of the facility... she said it was the first time she'd been able to go near a hospital clinic since her husband passed away. And she did have a companion... nice lady with a thick off-world accent."

"Carahegjelajum," Taloh uttered suddenly, surprising herself again. "I think."

Drev chuckled. "That's a mouthful... and the orange one did call the other one 'Cara,' so if the mouthful of a name fits..."

Now that she was looking at the drawings, Taloh saw something that felt familiar but she couldn't place it automatically. It was a circle with six crescent moons inside it, arranged at varying angles. Almost like a family seating arrangement in the cosmos... intimate. When she'd drawn it, she had thought nothing of it. But now... in her mind's eye, she saw faces. People who felt familiar, but whose names she didn't know. And two of them felt closer than the others. One was the woman in orange, and the other... black clothing came to mind. But she didn't know why.

"Glowbug?" Drev prompted, interrupting her thoughts. "You all right?"

She turned her attention to him, suddenly realizing they were both watching her and she'd been silent for far too long. "I think I am, actually. Deela."

"What?"

"That was my name. A long time ago." She shook her head, unclear on exactly why she knew that one small detail when nearly everything else was either really blurry and foggy or just plain blank. "Not that I want you to suddenly start calling me that, but... well. It was. And don't."

"Deela, huh?" Ailee said, trying it out. Then she shook her head in the negative. "No, you're right. Doesn't sound right. Was there a family name that went along with it?"

Taloh frowned. For some reason, she saw an oddly colored outfit, but that made no sense. "I... don't know. All I've got is a lot of jumbled fogginess that doesn't make sense. As if it was so long ago that remembering is both difficult and hard. And something about wearing nothing but a shield while in the company of armored knights for a day and a half."

Drev blinked and looked at Ailee, who was staring at Taloh in stunned wonderment. He had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. "Was that the story you were expecting when you made up that last name?"

"Not really, no."

Now it was Taloh's turn to blink. "I'm sorry... what last name?"

"I had to do something when I realized you didn't have any records here, so I while I was setting up an official identity for you, I needed a family name that no one would connect to the bombing. 'Glowslot' and any variation of 'Glow' were out. I spent two hours listening to you sleep talk and came out the other side with 'Knightsheild.'"

Taloh had no warning as she was suddenly sideswiped into a memory...

_Bree sat down next to her as she painted, watching as the picture took shape. "You're getting really good at that, Ari."_

_Taloh smiled at her briefly. "Glad you think so."_

_"Which crusade?"_

_She was silent for a minute or two, considering her answer. "Childrens."_

_"Was wondering why there was no armor involved..." _

_"Not all memories need be uncelebrated, even if they are horrible."_

_Bree nodded and took a long look around the room at various works in progress. "Not that I'm complaining, because I'm not and I love all your artwork, but..."_

_"You're wondering what I'm going to do with them all, aren't you?"_

_"Yes. It's not as if we have a lot of room to store things."_

_Taloh sighed. "I thought of storing them in my cabin in Wilson Valley."_

_"Not much room there, either."_

_"No."_

_"And?"_

_"And so... what if I sell a few?"_

_Bree looked at her speculatively. "Now there's an idea. You'd need an alias."_

_"Already considering some." She smirked. "What do you think of Knightshield?"_

_Bree laughed. "Only you would name yourself after something as traumatic as getting your clothes utterly, gruesomely torn up and destroyed like that."_

_"You're the one who said the path to recovery was fraught with reminders. This is my way of making an effort."_

_"I like it."_

_"Good."_

Taloh blinked as she came out of the memory. "Wow."

"What?" Drev asked, his arms still comfortingly around her. From his tone, she guessed he didn't see that one.

"That name? Knightsheild? Also mine."

"It is?" Ailee wondered, tone gentle and surprised. "Because I wasn't expecting that."

"It was something I picked for myself as a means of recovery, though I have no idea what from or who the woman is that I'm recalling. I called her 'Bree,' but... that was a nickname, just like she called me 'Ari.'"

Ailee glanced at the wall of art, eyebrows raised. "A means of recovery? That would make some sense, I guess."

"But it doesn't explain anything."

"No," Ailee said as she shrugged and stood up again. "And maybe it doesn't need to be explained."

"Where are you going?" Drev wondered.

"Dinner break's almost over and I have to be heading back now."

"Did you eat?"

"It's a two hour break. Of course I ate."

"Good."

Taloh watched his sister leave and then looked at him again. "You can let go, Drev. Really."

"What if I like it here?"

She couldn't fault that logic.

Ailee stepped back into the kitchen momentarily. "Oh, and brother?"

"Yes?"

"I wouldn't let Pettia catch you two like that if I were you. She'd be planning your wedding before you so much as popped the question." And with that, she left again.

Drev stared after his sister for a moment, blinking. "Who says I'm going to ask!? We've only just met!"

Taloh chuckled. For some reason she couldn't figure out, it was funny to hear him say that.


	9. Conversation

Before...

* * *

It was a beautiful, if cold, November day in the valley, and all Taloh wanted was to not be sitting on a log at a time like this. But Daniel had insisted, so sit she did. "I'm not an invalid, you know."

"Didn't say you were," Daniel answered calmly. "And sitting down and resting is a good thing. Even if the scary alien slugs were to come charging in right this minute, I'd still be telling you that you need to rest. Momentarily."

She rolled her eyes. They'd had this discussion far too much. Far, far too much for her liking. "You didn't bring anything to eat, did you?" He wordlessly handed her a banana and she stared at it for a moment. "Thanks."

"I learn quickly, love," he told her as she peeled it. "Always carry food and know where all the restrooms are."

Taloh chuckled. "Uh-huh... out here, it's behind a conveinent tree that the Hork-Bajir don't plan to strip the bark off of for a while." She motioned to a grove off to their left. "In there somewhere."

Daniel paused and looked to where she indicated. "Really?"

"What? You've not ever co-habitated with herbivores before?"

"Well... no." He fell silent, just watching her eat for a few moments and wondering how she'd lived before... of course, then, she probably remembered to bring the snacks herself AND there was Trineka with the lectures. How'd that start, anyway? Daniel was about to say something when a swirly mass of energy appeared in the center of the clearing. He couldn't help but stare.

Taloh swallowed as a bunch of people were left behind by the portal, and started to chuckle. "Well... not the worst entrance I've ever seen, but points for timing."

"You don't find that strange?"

"Live with me a good long while, weird is normal and normal is strange."

Daniel was cut off by Toby, shouting a now-familiar name and running to greet the new arrivals. He blinked and looked, really looked... "Is that...?"

Taloh chuckled again and handed him the banana peel. "Of course it is. And no, it's not what you think it is." She couldn't help but notice the differences right off... Ranko was maybe six inches taller, her gaze somehow not that of the eight-year-old she'd seen two days before, the streaks in her blonde hair somehow a brighter, more vibrant shade of red rather than the almost pink ones. And she knew that hadn't been a transportation beam that had deposited these people in their midst. From Toby's reaction, it hadn't yet hit home with the young Hork-Bajir seer, either.

Daniel was left holding the banana peel and wondering what she meant. Not what he thought it was? It was a group of young people, one of whom he knew shouldn't have been within a lightyear of here, with shocked expressions on their faces. Did it get more straight forward than that?

Taloh laughed under her breath and was amused to listen to Toby asking a lot of questions of Ranko, who didn't know quite how to answer all of them but was making a valiant effort. "Toby, give her a chance to breathe, would you?"

The five and a half foot tall Hork-Bajir seer stopped asking questions and turned to face her. "Why? They're home, aren't they?"

Taloh really felt like rolling her eyes, but knew that would get them nowhere. Home, yes, but these were not the people she'd seen off only days ago. "Not exactly. Ranko, what year is it for you?"

"Can't tell you that," Ranko answered succinctly, precisely, and smiled when Elsie and Chris joined the group from the other side of the clearing. Taloh had been expecting that kind of non-answer because it was the exact same one that the other group had given two years earlier.

"Ah." Taloh raised her eyebrows and looked at Toby. "When we finally actually find the time, you and I are going to have a very long talk about temporal directives, young lady."

"Temporal what?" Toby frowned as only a Hork-Bajir could and surveyed the people around them. "Is this one of those very odd things that doesn't make sense now but will later?"

"Yes."

They were both saved from further embarrassment when Melissa joined them, Tom in tow, and a journal in her hand. She stared first at Ranko, then at the man who had to be Peter, then at the various other members of the team. Her gaze settled on an unfamiliar man. "You weren't with them before." She looked at the other three. "Or you three, either."

"Carter Torelli," he told her, amused. "No, I got pulled into the training trip later. Vampires were trying to raise an Aztek demon." He motioned to the young girl on his right. "This is Susan." And the couple on his left. "Rala and Whuki."

Taloh blinked, startled at that information. "Vampires?" She could believe anything from time-displaced dimensional travelers, but... Vampires trying to raise an Aztek demon? Really? She glanced at the man dubbed as "Whuki" in surprise. This one she did know, if only barely. Thunder's Operations Officer, to be exact... who also wasn't supposed to be within a lightyear of here.

Ranko raised a hand, forestalling him from saying anything further. "Long story of long stories, but basically? Never give a man named Steve St. Wolf your phone number, a communicator, or an interdimensional emergency beacon. It leads to weirdness and mayhem."

Melissa frowned slightly. "So... you've been traveling for three years to strange places?" She glanced at Carter again, and seemed to bite back a laugh at his expense.

"Time is relative. That was three or four months ago for us," Ranko said as she turned and looked around at the group assembled in the clearing, calculating in her mind and trying to place everyone. "Month and year, please."

"November, 1999," Taloh supplied helpfully.

Ranko took a moment to stare at her in disbelief. It almost appeared to Taloh that she wanted to let loose with a string of obscenities rather than what she actually did say. "Great." She turned to her team. "Okay, people. We're early, but home nonetheless. Break, take a breather, and take the time to relax for now. It might be the last chance we get for a bit." She suddenly chuckled. "If I were anyone else, I'd be telling everyone to smoke 'em if they've got 'em. Bad cliché!"

Carter raised his hand. "Why?"

"You remember what your father said about this time in history?"

"Not really." It took a minute, and then realization seemed to crawl across his face like an over-parked camper. "You don't mean..."

She smirked at him. "Of course I do. You get to ask Toby all about it." She looked at Toby. "Be gentle. He's... somewhat naieve." She turned to Melissa, noting the journal in her hands. "Keeping notes?"

"Toby wanted a record of things," Melissa explained.

"Oh. Need a hand?"

Taloh watched the two of them walk off, Tom following behind them, and turned to find Daniel at her side. "I didn't think it was possible to be more confused than I was already."

Daniel chuckled and led her back to their log. It would keep... for a while, anyway.

* * *

Before...

* * *

Aside from the lobsters that were still on ice in the bag on the table, and the woman staring at them as if they might mutate right in front of her, the kitchen appeared normal as Taloh let herself in the back door. She frowned at the incongruity of it... usually, Jill was cool, calm, and collected... and also cooking. "Jill?"

Jill kept staring at the bag. "The lobsters weren't lobsters."

That made Taloh stop in her tracks and look around to see what else was out of the ordinary. The stove was on and a pot was boiling. "I don't understand." She turned the burner off and then leaned against the counter, facing Jill... who hadn't moved an inch. "Now would be a good time to explain, Jill."

"They were people. Three of them." Finally, as if just now becoming aware of her presence, Jill blinked and looked at her. "What are you here for?"

"Dinner plans. Remember? I offered to help you cook."

Jill nodded slowly. "Right. Change of plans. It's not going to be lobster."

This was just getting odder by the second. She'd planned for three weeks to serve lobster. "Why not?"

"Because I nearly cooked two teenage boys and a blue alien centaur." She motioned to the bag with three lobsters still inside. "And those are giving me the creeps."

Taloh paused, digesting that statement for a minute or two. Strangely, that made a certain amount of sense. "Ah. Anyone else would be hauling you to a psychiatrist right now, but since you ARE a psychiatrist..."

Jill appeared to be fighting the urge to laugh. "Thanks. Do you think the doctors would like pizza? I know Damian would love it, and we were so busy with wedding plans and moving that comfort food wasn't a priority."

Taloh smiled. "It'd be an interesting change of pace. What've you got in the fridge?"

Dinner went off without a hitch... mostly.

* * *

Now...

* * *

Taloh was still confused by one thing after Ailee had left the kitchen. That being: the glow still surrounding them both. Something about it was tickling at her, a memory that wouldn't quite come to the surface. It meant something, she knew that. But what? "Drev?"

"No, I'm not letting go of you just yet," he muttered.

He really must have been rattled, and she sighed internally upon making that observation. Of course he was... being blown up tended to have that effect on people. "The glow means something, but it's like I'm reaching with the wrong hand and just missing it."

"Oh?"

"And you are, too, now. I think, if and when you do let go of me, it'll stop. For you, that is."

He looked at her curiously, waiting. "I'm prepared to stay right here and help you figure it out. Dig a little, hmm?"

For some reason, the word 'dig' brought up the memory of doing some kind of slow dance without a partner. It felt... meditative. And... wait. Meditation. Centering... that meant inner self control, didn't it? And it was that realization that led to understanding what the dance was: a meditation kata from a martial art. And she did it to gain a fine self control... for what reason, Taloh didn't know, but there was. Inner energy, inner self. "It's a Chi technique."

Drev stared at her. "What's... chi?"

"Life force energy. I have this memory of doing a kata and meditation for self control." She paused, glancing down. "Weird. Guess I did."

"I don't understand."

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It didn't make her feel any calmer. "I could have blown up the house and killed you by accident. Granted, I'd have died in the process, probably, but..." She took a moment to kiss him on the cheek. "Thank you."

He continued to stare at her, only just now understanding that she'd answered his unspoken question about the explosion. "You're welcome?" It really, really had been an accident.

"By grabbing me the way you did, you probably saved both our lives."

"What makes you say that?"

With her free hand, Taloh formed a ball of silver energy. "Just a hunch."

Drev blinked again as she made the ball dissipate. "You can do that with meditation?"

"Sure. Takes years to learn the self control required for it, but... yes." She looked away, suddenly realizing she also know why he'd shared her flashback the way he had. "Running Moon."

"Huh?"

"I taught someone this." She took his hand and suddenly they were sitting beside a campfire in the dark under a sea of stars. He looked to find her sitting next to him, a finger poised at her lips. "Quiet now, and watch."

Drev frowned as she motioned to the other side of the campfire, where another version of herself sat with a young girl wearing some kind of leather outfit. They were talking quietly, and then the girl closed her eyes and began to concentrate. "I don't understand."

"The girl is called Running Moon. She is... was a seer among her people," Taloh explained. "A medicine woman. A healer, as it were."

He wasn't surprised when the young girl began to glow faintly. It was odd, how the bizarre was becoming strangely normal. "And the glow?"

"She had an ability... to read people. To see beyond the norm of what can be seen into the unseen. Untrained, the gift is incapacitating."

Drev was about to ask what she meant by that when another joined their circle. This one... was wearing very nearly the same outfit as the girl, but she was older. More seasoned... and looking directly at him with a knowing smile. "Taloh?"

"Hmm?"

"Why is that one smiling at me?"

Taloh returned the smile with a nod. "Good question. Running Moon, why are you smiling like the Cheshire Cat ate the Canary?"

Running Moon nodded back to her. "Because I know something you don't know."

"That's not hard, Hanwi."

"You mean... you're letting him see into memories and still don't know the significance of it? Come on, Teacher. You are smarter than that. You know what it means, even if you don't know know."

Drev was startled when the woman from Taloh's drawing of her sister appeared out of thin air and bopped Running Moon on the back of the head. "Uh..."

"Ow!" Running Moon yelped, turning to look with a scowl. "I know I'm dead, Arvina, but that still hurts!"

Arvina sighed. "You're the one speaking in useless riddles."

"Did you have to hit so hard?!"

"Yes." Arvina smiled at them. "We'll just be leaving you two alone now."

"Oh no you don't!" Taloh yelled as she surged to her feet, surprising him. "I want at least part of an answer and I want it now! Stay!"

Arvina looked from Taloh, to the 'training session' in full swing, to Drev, and back again. Then she sighed in defeat, marched off into the darkness, and came back with a lawn chair. A neon pink lawn chair. "All right. Running Moon, be a dear and go find us some dried meat or something. This setting makes me want beef jerky."

"You never had beef jerky when you were alive," Running Moon grumbled as she walked away into the darkness.

Arvina chuckled as she set the lawn chair close to them and sat down. "Dust elements: can't live with them without 'em weirding people out, can't do without them in a crunch. So... which answer did you want, sister?"

"The one Running Moon was hinting at."

Arvina stared at her. "Does it matter that much?"

"Yes."

Suddenly, the scene around them changed and Drev was instantly reminded of the bar. Or rather, the bar if it had a stage and a sound system. "Where are we?"

"Still in your kitchen," Arvina answered with a teasing smirk.

"Don't make me hit you," Taloh muttered dangerously, fists clenched at her sides.

"Oh, this? A memory. Answers. You probably don't remember the name of this place, so... Dave's Karaoke Bar."

Running Moon returned just then, a jacket of jerky in her hand. She paused, noting the change in décor. "Do you still want this?"

"Yes," Arvina said as she took the package. "And sit down. Please."

Taloh looked around, finding familiar faces she couldn't put names to seated at verious tables all around them. And herself seated near the stage with... Jill. Blinking, she turned just in time to find him seated at the bar, also looking around. "Daniel."

"Very good," Arvina told her. "Do you remember what happened here?"

"Jill made fun of my age?"

"Other than that."

Drev turned to follow Taloh's line of sight and found a man in his mid-thirties, medium build, and not-so-bad-looking finish the shot he'd been holding and head toward the stage. "Is this...?"

"Oh, he's going to sing all right," Arvina told him with a smirk. "Sap that he is."

Drev stared as the man launched into an ameturish but still emotional song about... an angel of dirt? "Why this memory?"

"Because Taloh wanted answers. This is answers. More than one, really."

Taloh turned back to stare at the two of them. Her sister and her student, both trying to tell her something but not trying to push her. They were being careful, and she was suddenly very grateful for that. "This is a memory game, isn't it? Show me something I know, make me figure it out."

"Something like that," Running Moon told her. "And just like those techniques you taught me because I had no control to call my own, you know this. Or did. Or will."

Taloh glanced up to find herself meeting the formerly singing man with a smile and lead him back to her table. Frowning, she turned and studied Drev. They looked nothing alike, but for the eyes. Both were caring, gentle men... except she was pretty sure Daniel hadn't been a barkeep. That part was meaningless, however, and Running Moon was right: she did know. "Please tell me I'm wrong, you two."

"Why?"

"Because then I'll be severely robbing the cradle if I'm right."

Arvina laughed. "Oh, sister! How is it that you know that, hmmm?"

"Robbing the what?" Drev wondered. He wasn't completely familiar with that euphemism.

"Shush, Barkeep," Running Moon muttered in his direction. "She's having a breakthrough."

Taloh closed her eyes, trying to puzzle it out. Some things were making sense while others still weren't. "It's a bond. A soul bond. Right?"

"Yes. And under what circumstances does the bondee glow in reaction to another's emotional stress?"

"If the bond was there to start with."

Running Moon nodded. "Yes. And?"

"I am not going to state the and," Taloh said as she opened her eyes again to glare at Running Moon. "You are officially a meanie."

"Am not. I'm just upholding my promise to you. We both are." When Taloh looked away sullenly, Running Moon leaned forward and tapped her on the hand. Taloh took a moment before returning her gaze tiredly. "Remember how you asked about the choice you saw yourself talking to Arvina about in that dream?"

"Yes..."

Running Moon motioned to Taloh's other self, sitting at a table now with Daniel, alone, and listening to two teens singing an encore of a song Drev didn't recognize but was nonetheless moved by. "It was right here that you made it. Or rather: that she made it. Two souls joined, one life saved. Your life."

"Mine?"

"Technically, your life started the moment you woke up in that alley. So you're not robbing the cradle. Technically." Running Moon shrugged. "Not that it actually makes any sense that way."

"Let me see if I understand this correctly," Drev began slowly. He pointed to the other table. "That was her life?"

"Yes and no," Arvina answered.

"She met her husband in a bar?" Almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth, Drev was kicking himself.

Arvina simply smiled at his misuse of words, and sidestepped the urge to say 'well, that's where she met you, wasn't it?' "Yes, but it wasn't the first time they'd met. This was a reunion."

The implications hadn't completely gone over Taloh's head, but she saw him wince and wisely chose not to make an issue of it.

"Running Moon, the next time you want me to meet you in subspace, please be where you say you'll be, okay?" A woman wearing a gray nightshirt suddenly appeared at their table from nowhere. She didn't look all that pleased. "Homing in on anything while asleep is hard! Harder than you'd think." She paused and studied their surroundings, frowning at the familiarity. "Why here? Did you want Chris and I to make you cry all over again with a love song?"

Running Moon stared at her. "You homed in on me all the way here?"

"Yeah."

Running Moon glanced at Taloh, who was staring at the newcomer in fascination. "What do you think? Should I give her the rank of Dreamwalker? Because that's downright impressive."

The woman's head snapped around to see who Running Moon was talking to, and then her eyes narrowed as the implications began to bomdard her. "Tally?"

"No one in my entire life has ever called me that," Taloh said slowly, frowning at her. "And who are you, Dreamwalker Initiate?"

Her jaw dropped open in shock as she sank into an available chair, stunned beyond the telling of it. "Or... not our Tally. Not our Tally, but still... okay. What did I just stumble into and why can I read her? Normally I can't." She looked at Drev, blinked in surprise, and then stared hard at Arvina. "And he's an old soul. Care to explain?"

"Seer," Taloh breathed suddenly. "Like Running Moon was."

"She's far better than I was, Teacher. I never made it to Dreamwalker like this."

Arvina rolled her eyes, sighing to let her frustration burn off a little bit. "You hit it right on the granite block, Elsie. This both is, and isn't, our Tally... and you can read her now because the damage was stopped in it's tracks and seen to. And Taloh? This is Elsie, a person who knows..." Here Arvina pointed to the other Taloh. "...her quite well."

Suddenly, a very confused man appeared at Elsie's side, and she laughed. "Chris?"

"What?"

"Roll over. Away from me. You are in my lucid dream."

"What if I want to stay?"

"Then I will find out if Coruscant has a Karaoke Bar and drag you there." He blinked at her several times and vanished. Elsie shook her head, still laughing. "I still might do it anyway."

Taloh studied Elsie curiously. "You have an Echo?"

"Yep."

Drev leaned closer to Elsie. "You live on Coruscant?"

"I'm a..." Elsie trailed off as she turned and looked at him for a second time. There was something scratching at her memory... something obvious. He reminded her of someone. "Are you Drev? Drev Hallan?" And if she was right, then either this a really big coincidence, or... she didn't have an 'or.' She really, really wanted to have an 'or.'

"Yes."

Elsie bit her lip, suddenly very uneasy. "And is your sister trying to hide a relationship with a CorSec agent named Darvis Melyan?"

Drev paused, blinking at her. So it wasn't his imagination, then. Good to know. "They're not hiding it very well, but yes." He had to wonder why that made her feel better.

Elsie smiled, very relieved and also very glad it was just a coincidence. "I'm Elsie Trent-McCain, Coruscant Planetary Police Force. It's a pleasure to meet you, sir."

"Huh?"

Elsie glanced at Running Moon, who was staring at her in silent disapproval. "It's a long story, but basically? Give that man your blessing. He totally deserves it."

Taloh frowned. Something in Elsie's wording was sparking a memory... but what did multiverse theory have to do with anything? She looked at Running Moon. "Am I missing something? It kinda feels like I am."

"Not really." Running Moon shook her head at Elsie before turning her attention to Taloh. "Do you still have a strong dislike for firearms of any kind?"

"Yes."

The scene around them shifted slightly and Elsie began to chuckle at the sight of Susan talking to Drev, in an orange jumpsuit. "Oh, man. I knew we were having color withdrawl symptoms, but that's hilarious!"

Drev turned to Taloh. "Color withdrawl?"

"She wasn't supposed to be wearing orange while under cover," Elsie explained helpfully. "Think of it as a really bad reflex... or an unconscious reflex. In this case, it was right for our computer lab, all wrong for investigating anything." Elsie chuckled again. "And it was days before we realized it."

Drev blinked and suddenly they were in the karaoke bar again. "Oh. Well, I'm glad she forgot, then. It was helpful." Sort of.

Elsie stood up, suddenly yawning. "I'll be going now. Dreamwalking isn't actual sleep. Trust me." She smiled again at Drev. "Didn't mean to shock you like that, sir."

"Don't worry about it. In my line of work, I've had worse things happen than being startled by surprising information."

Elsie chuckled tiredly. "Taloh?"

"Yes?"

"Chi energy isn't the same as planetary energy. You make something blow up, you will be drained... give up too much, you could pass out. Or, in the worst case, die. That's how you accidentally blew up that security office, even though you don't remember doing it."

Taloh turned to Drev with a frown. He'd been dancing around that subject for days. "I'm the reason the Garrison is on alert?"

"Yes."

"Did anyone die?"

Drev paused, trying to remember if he'd asked Ailee that. He hadn't, actually. "You... might have put someone into a coma, but I'm not certain about killing."

Taloh turned her gaze to Arvina. "Well?"

Arvina shook her head. "No. It was after hours on the weekend and only armored Storm Troopers were there, which is what set you off. The armor. Two are currently in comas, but I think they'll recover." She didn't add that even if they didn't recover, it still wasn't her sister's fault because they'd tried to stop her while she'd been having a traumatic reaction to a flashback.

"Thank you." Taloh looked at Elsie and nodded thankfully. "And thank you as well, Elsie. I didn't remember that."

Elsie smiled again before turning to look at Running Moon. "If you see a little girl in an unflattering brown shipsuit, please remind her she's still grounded, okay?" When Running Moon nodded, Elsie yawned one more time and vanished as quickly as she'd appeared.

Arvina frowned. "Somehow, I get the feeling there's more to that."

"There is," Running Moon muttered. "I told her to track me down if she needed to talk about an incident." She stared for several moments at the spot Elsie had vanished from, and then shook her head thoughtfully. "I'll have to tell Dawn she needs to visit and have a debriefing chat."

"Ah."

"Give the man my blessing?" Drev wondered.

"She's all confused about Saccorian customs, but it never hurts," Running Moon told him.

The scenery around them changed again, and Drev was treated to the sight of Taloh laying on very muddy ground with a spear where it shouldn't have been, and her clothes torn beyond recognition. She... was very still. Unmoving. "Huh?"

Arvina sighed in resignation. "Wasn't expecting that one. Sister, do you really want him to see this?"

Taloh herself was speechless in the face of very evident violence. It was one thing to know it happened, entirely another to actually see it. They watched in mute silence as the woman opened her eyes and sat up with a groan, pulling the spear out of her side once she realized it was there. She sat there for several moments, breathing haggardly and very dazed before being joined presently by another woman Drev couldn't immediately place. But when she spoke in a language he was unfamiliar with, it came to him. "That's Bree, isn't it?"

"Not really her name," Running Moon pointed out. "But yes."

"This was a war," Taloh finally said, having gotten her bearings again. "Was I trying to get myself killed?"

Arvina's eyes narrowed as she stared at her sister. "You don't remember?"

"No. I recall this one incident, but... why are you looking at me like that?" It was an odd mixture of a relieved smile and a reproving glare. Weird.

"This was just one of hundreds of such incidents," Arvina told her. "You wanted answers. Sometimes the truth..."

"Is ugly?"

"Yes."

Drev blinked in surprise when Bree picked up a fairly large wooden shield and pointed to a very battered bush that was nearby. "Niether of you had spare clothing, I take it?"

"No," Taloh said. She looked around at the devastating aftermath, noting with a rueful chuckle that it wouldn't have mattered either way. "And no one else did, either. Arvina?"

"Yes?"

"Am I still...?"

Arvina looked away from the shadows of memory. "Still what?"

"You really want me to say it?"

"No." She leaned in closer. "And no. You are not still timeless. You get hit with a spear like that now, you really will die."

Taloh stared at her, disbelieving as the reality of those words slid into place. "You mean it?"

"I really, really mean it." Arvina paused, glancing at Drev for a moment. Oh, right. "Unless modern medicine intervened, of course. But otherwise... yes."

Drev was treated to the sight of Taloh jumping up and going to hug her sister, who pulled away and swatted at her rather quickly. "Why are you happy about that?"

Taloh turned to him with a strange expression. "Because I just remembered that pain is bad, living is wonderful, and being effectively immortal isn't all it's cracked up to be? Oh, and having nothing to do but wait around for the next alien invasion is boring." Suddenly she was holding a skunk. "And can you believe that there's an alien race that finds these terrifying? There is."

Drev was so startled by the appearance of the black and white striped animal that he didn't notice they were suddenly on a beach in broad daylight until she set the skunk down and let it wander off. He watched the skunk for a moment before being startled again by a high-pitched scream normally associated with dark alleys. "What was that?!"

Running Moon sighed, and pointed to their left just as a dog, Taloh, and another person ran by them. "Elsie. Finding the leftovers of the battle with the aliens who had skunk phobia." Drev turned to stare at her. "What? It's the truth."

Taloh frowned as she watched more than twenty people, including herself, try to figure out why a five year old would scream like that for no readily discernable reason... and then it came to her. "This was when they found out. About her gift, I mean."

Running Moon nodded. "It was."

"And blood was shed here, which is the reason she saw it and reacted that way. After images."

"Right again."

Taloh frowned as the questioning went on for far longer than it would have under normal circumstances. No wonder the woman who had popped in and out of this meeting thing they were having was a little odd. "How'd she end up so... normal?"

Running Moon laughed. "Patience and training, Teacher. Lots and lots of patience, training, and parental guidance. Having that little guy..." Here Running Moon pointed to the little boy who hadn't left Elsie or her mother's side in spite of attempts made by his own parents to lead him away. "...around helped considerably."

Drev studied the little boy for a moment, thinking back to the man who had popped in and out of here with the threat of possible singing in his future. He couldn't help but chuckle a little at that thought. "What was this, anyway? Some kind of party?"

"Sort of a collective party," Taloh told him slowly, squinting as the memory came to her. "And I'm not very certain, but... was it held late due to there being a state of emergency involving lightning-caused fires and lots of smoke?"

Running Moon sighed. "I don't know." She stared around them as smoke or fog seemed to roll in and again the setting changed. Looking up, she whistled... definitely not fog. Fog never turned sunlight orange, nor did it smell like an eternal campfire. Obscured it, yes, but not orange and hazy. "Don't see that everyday."

Almost as quickly as the smoke had come, it was gone and they were suddenly in a clearing surrounded by trees. People milled about, and Drev was startled to see what could best be described as seven foot tall walking razors with eyes walking around. He was used to seeing different species, but this was one he'd never come across before. "What are those?"

Taloh shrugged. It might have been her memory, but the names weren't coming to her. "Dunno."

"Hork-Bajir," Running Moon told them quickly before Arvina could get a word in. "They're as dangerous as they look, but they eat tree bark. Those blades are functional, but not normally for fighting."

Taloh turned just in time to see a young Hork-Bajir, probably a female, run up to a girl with a composition book and a pen. "Strange."

"Not as strange as that is," Drev said, pointing to a nearby log where a couple sat, talking among themselves. "She look about seven months pregnant to you?"

Taloh followed his gesture and saw... herself. And that man from the bar. "When is this?"

Arvina grinned. "About a year following that night in the bar. These things happen, you know."

"Arvina..."

"No longer timeless, remember? Some things..." Arvina paused, letting what she was trying to get across sink in. "Some things no longer denied."

Taloh considered that. It made a certain amount of sense. "Oh."

They sat there in silence for long minutes, watching as events played out, and Taloh wondering what the deal was with the Hork-Bajir famale and that composition book she'd handed to a girl who was now writing in it with what seemed to be her boyfriend at her shoulder. He was reading and occasionally writing in it as well. "If I didn't know better, I'd say they were working on some kind of chronical."

Running Moon chuckled, but didn't comment as the two of them were shocked to see a multi-colored portal open up in the middle of the clearing and deposit more than six young people into their midst. 'Heck of an entrance,' she thought to herself.

Drev's eyes narrowed as he recognized the girl who had shown up at the bar among them. She was much younger, maybe twelve years old, but it was definitely her. She was also wearing considerably less orange. "Is that also an answer?"

Arvina nodded. "If you want to think of it that way. Believe it or not, she's really seventeen."

"Guardian Effect," Taloh blurted suddenly. Then she paused, looking at them as they turned to her. "I... have no idea what that is. And it seems like they were here by mistake or something."

"How so," Drev wondered.

"Look at their faces. They're probably more shocked to be here than everyone else was to see them." She pointed to a young woman in black who was standing next to a man with greenish skin. "And that one. I know her... or have a memory of her, at least. Her, and the orange one." Taloh glanced at him, sort of amused at her own returning memory. "This almost makes me think they were looking for me."

"They weren't, exactly," Running Moon told her, again interrupting Arvina's attempt to say something to the contrary. "Not you precisely, that is. There was an incident, Susan investigated, and..."

The scene around them flickered briefly to the night before on the porch, and this time Taloh got a better look at the woman walking by. The one in the lavender business suit with long hair so black it could have had a greenish-tint. And then it flickered back to Hork-Bajir Valley again, and Taloh turned to look at Arvina with wide eyes. "Was that...?"

"Suna? Of course it was."

"Explain, please."

Arvina froze, avoiding Running Moon's knowing smirk. She didn't want to explain. Frankly, she felt like all she'd done was explain so far. "No."

"Why not?"

"You really don't want me to say it again, do you?" Arvina smiled when Taloh looked away first. "There are things that need no explanation. This is one of those."

Drev had been watching the memory around them play out, and the people writing in the journal thing during what was obviously pre-action planning confused him. Why would they do that in the middle of a crisis? It made no sense.

Watching him, Running Moon had to smile. Distractions in the middle of a crisis could mean the difference between life and death at times. "It was a needful distraction." Drev jumped, startled that she'd answer his unasked question. "A team member who wasn't here provided Toby with a journal." She pointed to the female Hork-Bajir. "That's Toby. She's a seer among her people."

"Like you?"

Running Moon shook her head. "Different meaning. For the Hork-Bajir, a Seer is smart. Intellectual. That, and Toby wasn't quite three years old when this took place, so she'd been out of the loop on a lot. So... she asked people for a written record."

Drev nodded, understanding enough for it to kind of make sense. He was about to say something when a male voice from nowhere resounded around them. _"I will not carry a gun, Frank. When I got into this, I had a firm understanding with the Pentagon: no guns. I'll carry your books, I'll carry your lunch, I'll carry a tune. Cash and carry, carry over, carry forward, Cary Grant, carry me back to Old Virginia! I'll even Hari-Kari if you show me how! But I will not carry a gun!"_

As one, Drev, Arvina, and Running Moon turned to stare at Taloh with raised eyebrows and near identical expressions of amusement. "What? Hanwi mentioned firearms!"

Arvina chuckled and looked at Running Moon. "Was that the result you were expecting?"

"Well... no. Sounds about right, though." Running Moon glanced at Drev, who was still staring at Taloh, apparently very confused. "She still doesn't like firearms. Really doesn't."

"What was that?" Drev asked of Taloh. "That last part... Hari-something?"

"A ritual for death," Taloh mumbled as she looked away. "I think it's a quote from something."

"Oh. That makes a little more sense, knowing what he's referring to." He looked at Running Moon wryly. "In the instance that I would even consider giving her a weapon, which is pretty slim right now, it will not be a blaster of any kind. Suggestions?"

"Something sharp and pointy with a good grip," Running Moon told him seriously. "From what I remember, she's an expert with a sword. And multiple other things you do not have at your disposal. And barring that..." She smirked.

Drev stared at Running Moon in disbelief, trying to sort through everything he'd heard in their presence. Was this woman skilled at unarmed fighting? "Right. Thank you." Somehow he got the feeling from the way Running Moon was smirking at him that he was going to find out the hard way.

Again the scene around them changed, and this one was something Drev kind of recognized. It was fairly ovbiously an infirmary, but not one he'd seen before, with a woman standing in front of a patient seated on a bed. And then Taloh, the one in the memory, spoke up from the doorway, and the medic turned, revealing a warrior from a race he'd not ever seen before. Scars, foreign clothing... a dazed but surly expression directed at the medic. Almost as if... "Didn't like medical treatment?"

"Battle field surprise," Arvina muttered.

Taloh blinked and looked closer. "You're right. They do look like they've been through heck." She paused, wondering why this warrior was being seen to by a medic in an infirmary she... knew, but couldn't name the location of. "Do I want to know?"

"Not really."

"Arvina..."

"Yes?"

"Are you hedging on purpose?"

"No."

Somehow, looking at her, Taloh didn't quite believe it. "This is some sort of haven. Neutral space, inside the heart of flame, as it were."

Arvina nodded. "Correct."

"And was I confirming or consulting on something this medic already knew?"

"Yes. But she's a healer, but a medic."

Taloh nodded, then turned her attention to Drev, who was watching the scene unfold and play out with interest. She followed his gaze to realize that she was reprimanding someone very familiar. "Uh..."

Now it was Drev's turn to ask the questions. "Blowing things up?"

"Need to know," Running Moon told him easily. "You don't."

Taloh frowned suddenly, having just noticed a small detail. "How old is that baby in this memory?"

Arvina had to think about it. "Eight months? I think, anyway."

Taloh glanced at Drev to find that he'd turned to look at her. The pieces all fit. "She wasn't lying. It wasn't some story she made up on the spot to inspire sympathy."

"You mean what Ailee said about giving the woman in orange a tour?"

"Yes."

They stared at each other for long moments, the reality of everything they'd seen crashing around them, and though it went unnoticed by both, the scene around them changed momentarily to a desert with river running through it, and then back to the campfire again.

Arvina leaned closer to Running Moon and lowered her voice. "If he doesn't end up asking her, I'll haunt his dreams his entire life."

"You wouldn't."

"Try me. I've learned some inventive tricks over the years."

Taloh finally broke eye contact with Drev, blinking when she realized they were back where they started. Seated around a campfire instead of a table. "Arvina?"

"Hmmm?"

"How do I get us out of this?"

Arvina chuckled playfully. "The same way you got in. Instinct."

"That's not very helpful."

"I can't tell you anything you don't already know, and you know this."

"You're annoying."

"And you fell down a dune. Several dunes, and disappeared for ten years. I can be as annoying as I want."

Taloh paused. "I don't remember that."

"Because it was something you wanted to forget. Really, really forget. When you returned, there was much inebriation involved in the forgetting process." Arvina turned to stare hard at Drev. "She's a lousy drunk, even when nothing explodes."

Drev nodded slowly. "I discovered that, yes."

"Good man."

And just as suddenly as they'd found themselves sitting at the campfire under the stars, the two of them were in his kitchen again in each others arms, staring at one another.

Taloh had trouble finding her voice as exhaustion began to weigh on her like a thousand-pound stone. "Tired."

"After all that, I am hardly surprised." Slowly, for he was stiff from having sat in the same position for far too long, he got off the floor and helped her up. Wordlessly, he led her to the guest room and helped her, fully clothed still, into bed.

Before she succumed to sleep completely, she smiled at him. "Stay?"

Drev nodded and pulled up a chair. "I'll be right here."

Then she was sound asleep and Drev was left alone with all he'd learned. A lot of if, like this woman, didn't make sense. But did it have to? As he sat back in the chair and let himself relax, he shook his head slowly. No. Not everything needed to make sense.

* * *

Ailee entered the house, wondering why her brother wasn't up yet. He was usually in the kitchen at this hour. She began a room-to-room search, and found him sleeping in a chair in the third one she looked in. Smiling, she surveyed the fact that both of them were still in the clothes they'd been wearing the night before. What had happened after she'd left?

Gently, she shook her brother awake. "Hey. It's morning."

Drev yawned and looked at her. "Didn't you just leave?"

"In a manner of speaking," she answered, studying him with a practiced eye. Other than the dark circles under his eyes, he seemed fine. "That was last night, you know."

"It's morning?"

"Yes."

He turned and looked at the sleeping woman on the bed, his expression unreadable. "She had another break through last night after you left. Saw those, too."

"Ah." Ailee turned her gaze to Taloh, noting that their conversation hadn't woken her. "Bad?"

"Weird. And there were riddles."

Ailee turned to study him some more, taking in his apparent state of mind, and left the room to make a few calls. Drev, if he had a shift today, wasn't in any shape to work mentally, and Pettia... what was she going to tell her sister? That he'd shared memories with an amnesiac who remembered being blown up?

She got as far as the living room and paused at seeing Pettia standing there, as if she'd just arrived. "Oh. Hi."

Pettia frowned. "Good morning, Ailee. Where's Drev?"

Ailee motioned to the hallway behind her. "Out of sorts. Taloh had a break through and I think he spent the whole night in her room in case she had a nightmare. She's still sleeping." Which... wasn't exactly a lie, and she gave herself points for not stretching the truth.

Pettia nodded. "All right. Think she'll be up in the next ten minutes or so?"

"No. I don't." Which, if Pettia didn't believe her, would be a first.

"Then I'll be going." Pettia turned to leave, but looked back at Ailee. "And sister?"

"Yes?"

"Tell Drev not to worry so much. She'll be fine."

Ailee stared as Pettia let herself out. How did she know? Shrugging, Ailee went to find her brother's contact list.

As it turned out, he didn't and Sativa was well aware that his mind was... somewhat more than occupied. Her wording was: "Tell him not to worry about us for a couple of days. We'll manage... probably better without him here. Officers poking around asking questions."

Ailee ended the comm and took a moment to stare at the terminal. How long were they going to investigate? Days? Weeks? She hoped it wasn't months, because that would really put a crimp on things.

* * *

Drev heard someone stop at the door and turned to find Ailee standing there with a tray of breakfast food. "You didn't need to do that."

Ailee smiled at him tiredly as she set it down carefully on the unoccupied edge of the bed. "I wanted to, and after shooing Pettia away and calling Sativa, it was the next logical step. She stirred at all?"

"No."

She studied him again, noting again the lines of exhaustion and the weariness. She'd only ever seen him like this once: after their parents had been killed. He didn't sleep for a week, only then because he'd been unable to keep his eyes open any longer. "Drev?"

"What?"

She motioned to the tray. "Eat. It's not a request."

He glanced at her, blinking in confusion. "It's not that I'm not hungry or anything, Ailee. I just have a lot on my mind."

"Um-hmm. It's far easier to have something on your mind with a full stomach." She paused, thinking about how she'd found them in the kitchen the night before. "Did you two eat anything last night?" Now that she really thought about it, there'd been no dishes, used or otherwise, on the table. Just flimsies.

"Pettia made us stay for dinner again," Drev told her as he began to let himself eat something. "So yes."

Ailee nodded and let him eat in silence. Good.

* * *

Translation...

Hanwi/Hanwie: Moon (Sioux Language... basically, she was calling Running Moon "Mooney")

Speaking of pop culture: The quote remembered was Hawkeye Pierce from the M*A*S*H episode "Officer of the Day."


	10. Do you think we could call it Ploppy?

Drev finished the food from the tray Ailee had brought to him and sat back to look at her. "What kind of shifts are you working? All-nighters?"

Ailee sighed. "Some days, it feels like it. What happened, Drev?"

"Other than the flashbacks, you mean? Not much. You don't have to stay."

"I know I don't." She stood up and took a closer look at Taloh's sleeping face, taking the woman's pulse as she did so. Her color was good, pulse was mostly normal... breathing good. Ailee looked at Drev again. "I'll be going, then. Call me if you need to, and Sativa said you were off for the next couple of days."

"She did? Did she say why?"

"Imps. Why else?"

"Ah."

Ailee moved to the doorway, paused for a moment. Then she glanced back at him. "And Drev?"

"What?"

"When she wakes up, tell her from me that she's not to do whatever it is she did to both of you again for a good long while if she can help it."

Drev rolled his eyes at her. "It's not what she did, Ailee. It's what didn't happen because I caught it in time."

"Really?"

"Really. But I will tell her, just the same."

"Glad to hear it."

Drev felt like laughing suddenly, as Ailee left them alone. He loved his sister, but normally didn't see her quite this often.

* * *

The graveyard was quiet as she sat there, absorbing the moment as if it was happening for the first time. For her... it was. It was a bleak and dismal day here, and the Kanji on the gravestone nearest to her bench didn't make any sense whatsoever.

"You know, when Grandma told me that dreamwalking was hard, I thought she was kidding. She really, really wasn't."

Startled, Taloh jumped and turned to find a young woman who bore a striking resemblance to Elsie standing there, looking at her calmly. Taloh frowned, finding something familiar in this unknown woman's gaze. "Who are you?"

The woman motioned to the bench. "May I sit?" At Taloh's nod, she sat down and took a deep breath. "This is hard."

"How so?"

The woman motioned to the nearby gravestone. "To see that and know what I know. It's hard. Really now... you couldn't have dreamed of a beach or something, Ari? This would have been easier."

At the use of "Ari", Taloh frowned again. "Only one person has ever called me that, and you're not her."

"No. I'm not." The woman sighed again and looked her directly in the eyes. "My name is Cynthia Destiny McCain Morlan-Mason. Destiny. For everyone but Mason, anyway." She paused again at Taloh's impatient expression. "I know this is confusing, but we know each other. Or will. Or did. It depends on how you look at it."

And that's when Taloh got it, the realization of why this person felt familiar. She glanced at the grave marker and the Kanji made sense: Bree Kimiko. No dates, no commemorative inscription, just the names. "You were her once."

"No. Just the memories. Just like yours of a life you could have had but didn't."

Taloh nodded. It didn't make sense, really, to be sitting here in her sleep with a woman she didn't know but felt like she did. "Why are you here?"

"It's what Bree would have done in my place if she could have."

Taloh looked at Destiny again, at once finding comfort in those words. "Thank you."

"And then she'd do this." So saying, Destiny whopped Taloh on the back of the head. "For making her worry."

When Taloh turned to protest the well-meaning abuse, Destiny was nowhere to be seen. Alone again in the graveyard, Taloh couldn't help but chuckle. Someone out there cared. That meant something.

* * *

Taloh opened her eyes to find Drev sitting in a chair reading a hard copy book next to her bed. She laid there, watching him for long minutes before he glanced up and noticed her watching. "Hi."

Drev smiled. "Hello, yourself."

She slowly sat up, glancing at the closed drapes and realizing it was dark outside. "Drev? What time is it?"

"You slept for two days," he told her quietly. "Ailee wanted me to tell you not to do whatever it was you did to both of us again for a good long while. I told her not to worry and failed to mention your sister speaking in 'you already know this' riddle talk."

Taloh blinked, the mere thought of Ailee's reaction to such a think making her want to chuckle. "I'm sorry you saw all that. Other than the shield thing, I didn't know until it was staring me in the face that I knew."

"Hey," Drev said as he captured her hand in his. "You don't have to apologize to me. Not for anything. Understand?"

She stared at him for long moments, perplexed. "Why not?"

"Because now we share something we didn't before," he said, glancing at their hands which were glowing a serene silver on contact. "Glowbug."

She wanted to tell him no, that they couldn't do this, that it was wrong to even consider... but a push, or what could have been a push at least, from thin air, stopped her. It was stirring a very vague memory of a nudge Arvina had given her many times in their youth, and for a moment Taloh could picture her sister grinning wildly and tapping her incorporeal foot impatiently, wanting her to get a move on. Well then... "Drev?"

"Yes?"

"What I said before? About us? Disregard it."

He seemed intrigued. "Any particular reason I should have taken it seriously in the first place?"

She felt like snorting in laughter. "It was reflex. Born of a lifetime of being an outsider. Being able to trust anyone other than Bree is new to me."

He frowned. "Really?"

"Yes. And that other lifetime involving a husband and a family may have actually happened, but not to me. Not to me, or for me." She shook her head, trying to understand it. It made no sense. But then... was it supposed to? "And I think... I like you." When he was silent for far too long, she looked at him again. "What?"

Drev shook himself, trying to find the right words to say, but couldn't think of anything flowery enough. Finally, he smiled and squeezed her hand. "I think I like you, too."

"Do you want to talk about what you saw when we were... I don't know what to call it."

Drev nodded slowly. "Maybe someday, but not right now. It's a lot to process."

"It is," Taloh agreed.

"I do have one question for you, though."

"Shoot."

"Was your life always that insane?"

She stared at him for half a minute before dissolving into giggling hysterics thereby giving Drev his answer.

* * *

Ailee was sure they were ready now. Now, if the garrison would just settle down again, they'd actually be able to carry out the plan. She was putting away the training aids and other assorted meeting-related things when one of the other resistance cell members joined her without comment. Soon enough, they were done and Ailee smiled at the woman. What was her name... Rail or Rally? "Thank you."

The woman shook her head. "Don't. It's more that this is my way of thanking you."

Ailee winced internally and picked the lesser of two evils. "For what, Rally?"

"Rala," the woman corrected with a knowing smile. "And forgive me if I don't tell you. It's not important now."

"All right..." Ailee took the materials from her and watched as the woman went to join her husband with the really odd name at the door. She had to wonder what that had been about. Had that one been a patient at some point and she just didn't make the connection? Very strange.

* * *

Pettia entered the house through the back door, and was slightly surprised to find her brother sitting at the table drinking caf by himself. "Where's...?" Silently, he motioned to the open door to the living room, and Pettia looked to find Taloh in there, doing some kind of strange slow dance. Frowning, she pivoted to look at Drev. "What is she doing?"

"Acting out some kind of flashback involving a martial art... or she called it a martial art, at least. Tai something." He motioned her to sit down. "Weirdest thing is that I have no idea what spurred it."

Pettia nodded slowly as she sat down. "How long?"

"Long enough. She's gone through six or seven forms since this started." He paused, watching as he sipped his caf. "And I'm not certain that it's all the same type, either. Remember that datapad on Teras Kasi you found?"

"Yes..."

"Looks like some of that is mixed up in there somehow." He turned and looked at her, sighing. "You might as well go, Pettia. She's not going anywhere today. Especially not while having acted out flashbacks."

Pettia glanced at the ever-growing wall of art work behind him, considering what could possibly happen if such a flashback were to happen while at a day care center, and nodded in agreement. "I agree with you there. She remember more?"

"Bits and pieces... and a funny detail involving word pronunciation between languages." At her frown, he chuckled. "Seems her native tongue doesn't have much in common with Basic, and she over-compensated on vowel sounds when trying to say what her name is."

Pettia blinked. "How did she figure that out?"

"If I said I met two ghosts on a dreamwalk, would you believe me?"

"Um... no?"

"Thought as much."

* * *

Taloh didn't even pause when he entered the living room. "Is she gone again?"

"Yes. Why are you doing that, anyway?"

"It's relaxing."

Drev chuckled. "Right."

"Something on your mind?"

"Just wondering if you want to go for a walk. See some things."

Taloh gracefully turned in his direction and opened her eyes to look at him. "Which things?"

"You can draw what you see, right?"

"Yes..."

"How about the Garrison perimeter if we were going to walk along the fence?"

"Can you see through the fence?"

"Sure can."

"Then yes." She finished the movement and stood there for a moment. "Mind if I change first?"

"Not at all."

* * *

She looked at the Imperial shuttle through the fencing on the other side of the landing pad for a long moment before turning to her companion. "They name shuttles, right?"

He nodded. "They do indeed."

She glanced at it again, considering its appearance. "I think we should call it 'Ploppy.'"

"We have to steal it first, Glowbug."

"Are you always such a realist, or is it just me that gets to hear it, Barkeep?"

"Always, and most often for you."

His comm device suddenly crackled. [Are you going to flirt all day? If you are, please turn your comms off.]

Drev chuckled. "Somehow, I think we're getting on Ailee's nerves."

[Yes. You are. And really... 'Ploppy'?]

"Seen enough, Glowbug?"

Taloh nodded slowly as she scanned the perimeter with her eyes once more. "Yes."

"Then let's go."

* * *

Ailee stared hard at both of them as they entered her apartment. "Ploppy?"

Taloh paused and thought about it. "Seems like a good name for a ship. Doesn't it?"

Drev motioned to Ailee's living room and Ailee led them in. He stopped when he saw Darvis seated at her kitchen table. "Ailee, what's he doing here?"

"Using my table to build something. Why?"

Darvis glanced up, saw Drev watching him, and resumed his task. Drev stared at him for a moment longer before taking a seat on the couch next to Taloh. "No reason. And yes, Glowbug, it would be a good name for a ship. Maybe not this particular one, but..." Taloh had an odd expression on her face, as if something was incredibly funny but she couldn't figure out why it was. "Taloh?"

Taloh shook her head slowly, blinked a few times. "It's nothing. Ailee, do you have some paper or something?"

Ailee nodded and went to go find some flimsies. She came back with both flimsies and some pens. "Here."

Taloh graciously took them from her and sat down at the caf table to draw something. Ailee frowned at Darvis and he shrugged in reply. "It's something better shown than explained," Taloh muttered at them.

"Oh," Ailee said as she sat down and waited. "So recon went okay?"

"Aside from wanting to name a shuttle something odd," Drev began playfully, grinning when Taloh glared at him. "Yes." He pulled the comm link off his collar and tossed it to her. "You'll probably want that back."

Ailee caught it. "Probably."

Taloh sat up again and passed the drawing to Ailee, who stared at it. It was a drawing of a ship, deadly in appearance but like nothing she'd ever seen before. "It's a memory. Fragment of a memory, really."

Drev leaned to see and blinked in astonishment. "That thing was called 'Ploppy?'"

"No. Talon. Ploppy was a blooper suggestion." She blushed when Drev stared at her with wide eyes. "Apparently, I was interested in science fiction after not having participated in watching anything from popular culture for a very long time. Doesn't make sense to me, either."

"But you could draw a detailed diagram of that in ten minutes or less."

"Yes. Unfortunately."

Ailee frowned as her brother dissolved into laughter. "What's so funny?"

Taloh shrugged, smiling as Drev got control of himself again and took a deep breath. "It's not. And it is, at the same time. I have this fragment of a memory of a life I didn't live, and I remember a TV show I don't remember watching. You tell me."

Ailee blinked, suddenly realizing there was a whole other layer to this conversation and it had gone right over her head. What had gone on between these two the other night after she'd left them in his kitchen, anyway? "Oh."

* * *

It was the first time he'd been back to the bar in a week, but he wasn't here to work today. Sativa still wanted him to be scarce, as the garrison was still on relatively high-alert but had mostly calmed down. For Imperials, anyway. It was better safe than sorry. So, today, he was meeting with Ailee and watching the crowd while she looked over some detailed drawings from Taloh.

"Do you have any candles in your house?"

Drev shared a confused glance with his sister as Taloh came toward them with a panicked expression on her normally calm face. "I haven't kept candles around in a while. Why?" And for that matter, how had she gotten away from Pettia?

She sat down at the bar, sighing. "It's nothing that can't wait. A ceremony I miss, is all."

"A ceremony?" Drev asked. She hadn't really talked about things, had been carefully guarded, and he was taking every opportunity she gave to open up communications all the more. "For what?"

"Freedom from oppression."

That answer only really served to confuse him. "Huh?"

"That is your goal, is it not? To gain freedom?"

Drev blinked. Maybe it wasn't so confusing after all. "Yes. And you need candles to perform this ceremony of yours?"

"I do."

"Then let's go find some." He held out a hand as he stood up from his seat at the bar. "Shall we?" At her nod, he glanced at Ailee. "Don't stay too long." He looked at Taloh to find her staring pointedly at his hand with raised eyebrows. Satisfied, he withdrew the hand. She was making an effort to be normal. Good.

Ailee smiled at him. "Don't plan to." She motioned to Sativa, who was at the other end of the bar helping someone in uniform. "Just going to catch up with Sateen down there before I go."

"Ah." He paused. "Sateen?"

"I read far too much and the nickname stuck. This does not mean you get to tease the woman about it."

Drev chuckled and ushered Taloh out of the bar, thankful to have gotten away without something dramatic happening again. Really, now... candles?

* * *

Two hours and seven ceremoniously lit candles later, Drev understood it a little better. They'd been unable to find a stand to her liking, so she improvised with holders. "I still don't get it, but... the candles are nice."

Taloh smiled. "It's about remembrance. Times gone by and people left behind. I figured it was time to observe it again." She motioned to the second unexplained set of candles. "Your turn."

"Mine?"

"Yes. Yours." At his incredulous expression, Taloh grabbed his hand and placed a lit stick in it. "For loved ones lost." She motioned to the candles. Still frowning, he lit it. "For things done that can not be undone." The next one. "For grief. And Pain. And bondage. For things we can not change. For the future." At last all the candles were lit and she caught his hand, blew out the stick. They stared at one another for a long moment, and then she leaned in and kissed him strongly. He did not protest and allowed himself to melt into the kiss.

It was the best kiss of his life.


	11. All's Well That Ends Well

A/N: This last chapter jumps around... really a lot. The reason? I had fun on my way to the end.

* * *

Several weeks from now...

* * *

Ailee was sitting at a table in the shipboard commissary when someone joined her. She glanced up, frowned at the woman she'd not seen before, and returned her gaze to the cup of caf in her hands. "Something you need?"

"No," the woman said slowly. "Just noticed how down you seem."

Ailee blinked for a moment, confused that anyone would care to notice. "And you care why, exactly?"

"Depression can be contagious."

Ailee glanced up at her again, noticing the teasing gleam in the woman's hazel eyes. "I'm not depressed. Just thinking about home."

"Ah. Good caf?"

"Not particularly." Ailee took a sip and grimaced. "It almost makes me wish I hadn't gone for a month straight without. The clinic's caf was better than this."

The woman frowned at her. "Why did you...?"

"It was a dare and a bet between my fiance and I. He bet I couldn't go a week without caf, I dared him to talk to my brother about us." Ailee shrugged, smiling. "We both won, and he had go without his favorite tea drink." She held out a hand, which the woman shook. "Ailee Hallan. You?"

The woman had to conceal a grin as she shook her hand. "Roganda Ismaren. You said it was a month?"

"Four weeks and one day, actually. Counting today."

Roganda stared at her. "Four weeks?"

"Yes, and I'm never dealing with an amnesiac or shuttle theft without caf again." Ailee took another sip and stared into her cup at its contents. "How do they make caf this bad, anyway?"

Roganda was, of course, stuck on the 'amnesiac and shuttle theft' part. "Is that one story or two?"

Now Ailee really looked at her, confused. "Hmmm?"

"Amnesia and shuttle theft?"

Ailee shook her head, not having really expected anyone to ask. "Oh. One story... and once most of the amnesia cleared, she was a good part of the reason we were able to steal that shuttle. Seems she had a holographic memory and training at one point as a construction engineer's assistant... the diagrams she drew of the base were amazing. Sorry I confused you. Long week."

Roganda nodded. She could relate, because it really was turning out to be a long week, and about to get longer. "Know the feeling."

"So what's your story? About your week, I mean."

Roganda chuckled. "Long year, actually. A friend was captured and frozen in carbonite eleven months ago. We only just got him back this week, and now..." She motioned to the bulkhead of the ship around them. "More action."

"Oh. How's your friend?" Carbon freezing? She knew animals could survive it, but people?

Roganda smiled. "Better every day and likely bored out of his skull." She focused on a point behind and above Ailee. "Right, Han?"

Ailee turned to find a man standing there. He appeared to be in his mid-thirties, short brown hair, brown eyes... enticing in that Corellian kind of way. "Oh. Hi."

Han frowned. "Ganda, I am not bored out of my skull."

"If you say so, Captain," Roganda told him teasingly.

"I'm sorry," Ailee said, drawing his attention to her. "She said you were frozen. Any residual side effects like blindness?"

Han stared down at her. "You're a medic, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"No. I feel fine." At a snort from behind her, he glared at Roganda. "What?"

"Truth?"

"Truth. Felt a little freeze dried for a while, but it's fading fast and now I'd just like to shoot something."

Roganda chuckled. "Thought so. Just don't tell the princess that."

As Han rolled his eyes, snorted, and walked away, Ailee turned back to look at Roganda, amused at his phrasing. "Shoot something?"

"Storm Troopers," Roganda offered. "Also, he wasn't being particularly truthful, either. You didn't ask about residual headaches directly."

Ailee shook her head. "Didn't even register that I might need to ask." She glanced down at her nearly empty cup, wondering if she'd chance another cup. "Other than all that..."

"How's my week been?"

"Yes."

"Not too bad, actually." Roganda suddenly smiled when a comm device Ailee hadn't noticed her wearing made three prolonged chirps that almost sounded like an astromech unit. "And getting better all the while. He's late."

"Who?"

Roganda shook her head as she stood up. "Not the time. Have a mission brief to get to."

Ailee watched as half the personnel in the commissary vacated the premises and wondered why she suddenly felt very out of the loop. What briefing and who was late? She almost jumped from being startled when Darvis joined her at the table. "These people are strange."

Darvis did his best not to laugh. "Your brother is in love with an amnesiac who glows on occasion. I hardly think you have room to call anyone strange."

Ailee drank the last of her caf in grimacing silence. He had a point.

Days before that...

It was odd, having nothing but silence and togetherness as they sat on the couch in his living room after all was said and done. No more wild plans to think through, no more shuttles to steal... no more surprise visits made by his sister at odd hours because she couldn't seem to stay away.

At his chuckle, she glanced up at him. "What's so funny?"

"I wonder if Pettia will try to fill the void and suddenly start visiting every day."

"Drev..."

"What?"

"You love your sisters. They love you. It's good to see them a lot."

He nodded slowly. "I know that, Glowbug. I know." They settled into comfortable silence for minutes longer before he broke it again. "So... is there anyone I should be asking permission from?"

"For what?" Taloh wondered.

"Your hand in marriage."

She froze, turned to face him completely, shock clearly written on her face. "What?"

He smiled. "Was that the wrong way to ask?"

"You. Want to marry. Me?"

"Yes."

She studied him intently for a moment. "Why?"

"Answer my question first, Taloh."

"The one about asking for permission?"

"That one, yes..."

Shaking her head, she sat up straighter. "No. There's no one you need to ask permission for my hand, Drev Hallan. Just me. And now you need to answer mine."

"You're different. I like what you draw, that art is your release. That you didn't know what a computer was and now you can at least try to use one in a pinch. That you occasionally do something weird like a ceremony with candels, and that your sister cared that much to intervene from beyond." He grasped her hand and the glow appeared. "And I love you, in spite of how weird my life has been since you walked into the bar that night and melted glass with your fingers. So, Taloh Deela Knightshield... will you marry me?"

Her immediate response was a kiss. Later, when they both caught their breath again, she said yes enthusiastically and then proceeded to tell him why she was doing so in the same manner. It turned out to be an interesting topic of conversation.

* * *

A week or two before that...

* * *

Ailee stared at the odd drawing over Taloh's shoulder. One circle inside another bigger one with a point in the middle of the top one and lines that branched off in seemingly random directions. "What is that?"

Taloh glanced up at her. "Dunno. Woke up with an image of this and just had to draw it this morning."

It was something that they'd all wonder about for a long while...

* * *

A couple days after that...

* * *

Drev was starting to wish someone else would volunteer their residence for a resistance cell meeting. At least this one had been productive... and was it good or bad that someone had managed to steal two uniforms? He glanced at Taloh to find her staring at two members of the meeting. Odd. Very odd. Those were the same two that had turned up with the uniforms.

When the meeting broke up, the man and the woman stayed behind and Ailee started to introduce them, only to be stopped by Taloh.

Taloh held up a hand and frowned at the woman. "Rala, what in creation are you doing here?"

The woman stared at her. "You... you know?" She pulled her husband closer and hugged him. "Wait. How do you know?"

"Know what?" Drev wondered. "And how do you know them, Glowbug?"

The man blinked and disentangled himself from Rala reluctantly. "You call her Glowbug and she allows it?"

"Is there something else I should be calling her?" Drev asked him. The man shrugged.

"Stop it," Taloh said sternly, still staring at Rala. "What are you doing here, Ralarna Faith Trason?"

Rala winced. "I deserved that. I totally did. We're here for you, actually."

"For me?"

"Yes. You. As in: do we or do we not tell you what happened to yourself? Whuki and I spent months and years discussing it, had an argument or three, and here we are. To stay."

Ailee sighed and looked at Whuki. "This is going to be one of those talks, isn't it?" He chuckled and nodded in answer.

Taloh glanced at the procured uniforms for a long, long moment. "Please tell me you stole those from the garrison, Rala."

"Would that make you feel better about participating in Operation Shuttle Theft?"

"Yes."

Rala grinned. "We didn't steal them from the Garrison. We borrowed Ranko and Peter's Halloween costumes. Don't ask why those two had cosplay-level Imperial uniforms, because I don't know."

Drev looked at Ailee. "Why do I get the funny feeling that we're missing something important?"

"Because we are?" She suggested helpfully.

Taloh chuckled. "You know this already, Drev. That night in the kitchen, remember? This is Rala, and he's Whuki. They're..."

"Techinally, I'm your niece," Rala supplied when Taloh trailed off. "And he's your nephew-in-law."

"I am... your aunt?" At this, Rala handed her a scrap of flimsy that had something drawn on it. One line that kept going, but branched out into another line, with a squiggly line that reconnected the two near the beginning of the second one that spiraled from the end of the first one. Taloh blinked at the representation, stared at Rala for a long, long moment, and then studied it some more. "Oh. This..."

"Is what we think happened to you in line-art terms. And I can't very well call you mother, now can I?"

Drev started in surprise, now only just recognizing them from the shared memories. "Oh... oh!"

Taloh glanced at him, then nodded her head in reply. "No. I guess you can't."

Suddenly, Rala produced a hard-copy book from thin air, smirked at Ailee's stunned expression, and handed it to Taloh. "And this is for you, also."

"What is it?"

"A compilation of Mom's journals. And before you ask, no. She didn't know about the split, nor did Susan or I mention it to her. We couldn't." When Taloh looked at her in confusion, Rala shrugged. "Don't ask. It was hard enough explaining it in such a way that didn't seem too strange to be believed."

"Why is that?" Drev wondered, frowning at her phrasing.

Rala sat down in a chair and looked at him, and suddenly he had a flash of familiarity. Taloh had looked at him once like that recently, just days after coming into his life, with that same sense of age in her eyes. "Because we had to cover up a much bigger mess than we thought, Mr. Hallan. Suddenly, it wasn't just an annomalous invasion, but rather something much bigger and far closer to home. Can we talk about something else now?"

Whuki sat down next to her and nodded. "Sure. How badly do you think we could screw up stealing a shuttle from an Imperial Garrison?"

Something about this conversation was stirring Taloh's memory... "What makes you think we'll screw it up? It's only humans we're dealing with!"

Rala blinked at her. "Of all the things you know... that's the event you remember? Really?"

Drev frowned at Rala. "What?"

"Mom once had a hand in planning to steal a space ship from an underground hangar. It... didn't go well and everyone, or so I understand, ended up in therapy for months." Rala chuckled and shook her head at Taloh's confused expression. "Nobody thought to account for the ferocity of the giant, carnivorous worms. And I still don't get why they wanted to steal the ship in the first place."

"An advantage," Taloh muttered, and then her eyes went distant and they stared at her.

Ailee cursed silently, knowing that they were in for a long night.

Rala frowned as she studied Taloh's distant expression, then glanced at Drev. "She still has amnesia?"

"Yes," he told her. "Though she's much better now than she was when she turned up in the bar that first night." At Rala's questioning head tilt, he shook his head. "Don't ask. Really. Don't."

"Don't need to. I know already. Saw the damage after we heard about the garrison going on high alert." Ralarna sighed, and led Taloh to the couch and made her sit down. "Wasn't all that hard to put two and two together."

Drev and Ailee stared at her while Whuki shook his head in consternation. "If you knew what happened, why didn't you..."

"It's not that simple," Whuki interrupted before Rala could explain. "We weren't allowed to interfere. That is the price of being here. As long as the situation was under control, there was no need."

"But stealing Imperial uniforms and joining a resistance cell is fine?" Ailee wondered, trying to wrap her thoughts around what he'd just said. "And how do you know everything was under control?"

"Nothing else blew up."

Drev snorted at that answer. "Sure. That doesn't mean it couldn't have happened."

"Shhh," Rala told them as she turned her complete attention to Taloh, who suddenly blinked, tried to stand up, and let out a stifled shriek. Then she blinked again and stared at Rala, as if just realizing she was there. "Sorry for sparking that one. Really, I am. If Jill were here, she'd bawl me out for it."

Taloh took several deep breaths to calm down, nodded. "I knew there would be things I wouldn't want to know, Ralarna. Have to take the bad with the good... even if this is something I'd really rather not ever have known. Am I right that the mission was a successful failure?"

Rala nodded. "The ship ended up being destroyed, along with a part of the underground complex. The Visser, however... stood trial by war crimes tribunal. The ambassador who served as magistrate had trouble keeping a straight face, because they'd never presided over a tribunal before."

Dref suddenly blinked and left the room, returning with a piece of flimsy, which he handed to Rala. "Is that what we're talking about?"

Rala studied the drawing for a long moment, taking in the image of the aforementioned ambassador staring up at her from the flimsy. "Oh my. Are there more like this one?"

"In the kitchen," Drev told her. "Why?"

Rala's explanation of an entire cabin filled with art did much to explain the growing wall of art in his kitchen.

* * *

Elsewhere...

* * *

Destiny glanced up from the morning paper when Susan entered the kitchen of the house they shared. "Good morning."

"Not before coffee," Susan muttered, pouring herself a cup. "And remind me to never again let my daughter talk me into going with her to one of those. They're boring and I always want Vodka afterward."

Destiny chuckled. "I'll remember that for the next time. And that hangover is your own fault."

"Love you, too."

Destiny rolled her eyes in mock annoyance and returned to reading the paper. "Package came for you this morning, Sue."

Susan turned away from the coffee maker, took a long sip, and noticed the package on the table. "Do you know from where?"

"You'll just have to see for yourself."

"Destiny..."

"What?"

"It's far too early for games," Susan muttered as she sat down at the table and stared at the package that had a card attached to it. Setting down the coffee cup, she opened the card. Reading it, she blinked in surprise. "That's weird."

"What is?"

"This is from Rala. She thinks I'll find it interesting and enlightening."

Opening the package, Susan found a binder full of drawings done in varying styles. The very first one was of their team patch: six crescent moons at varying angles inside a circle.

The note had read: _"Sue, I came across something interesting I thought you should see. Spent three hours copying them just for you. It's enlightening to see these and know that I almost stayed away entirely. I'm glad I didn't._ _-Rala"_

* * *

Five months on...

* * *

Taloh had been surprised when Rala and Whuki showed up unannounced with ten other people in tow, and befuddled at their request to perform a ceremony when the wedding was the next day. It just didn't make any sense as she held hands with Drev and strands of what seemed to be really flexible metal were draped over them to words accompanying each color.

When the last strand was added, the combined strands glowed and merged together into two separate bracelets, both the same colors of silver, white, and gold.

Rala smiled at the confused looks both of them threw at her. "You're bonded. Sort of like a wedding, only not."

Drev frowned at her. "But the wedding is tomorrow."

"And we couldn't have done this at the wedding," she told him. "So we compromised... Uncle Drev."

He sighed. "I'm not your uncle!"

"Could be worse. I could call you Dad instead."

Drev glanced at Taloh to find her laughing silently, shoulders bouncing in silent hilarity. "You find this funny?"

"Sure," Taloh told him. Then she looked directly at Dawn in question. "Just out of curiosity... could she?"

Dawn smiled enigmatically. "I know better than to give a straight answer to that kind of question. I will not say no, nor can I give a firm yes, however. Make of it what you will."

Taloh stared at her in surprise for a long moment. "I... think I will. Thank you."

They were married in a small civil ceremony the next day.

* * *

Two months before...

* * *

Just as Drev was about to leave for his shift at the bar, he opened his front door to find Rala standing there with two women he didn't recognize. "Hello."

"I know this is awkward, but is she here or with Pettia?"

Drev nodded slowly. They'd begun to trust that she could be alone for a couple hours while he did abreviated shifts, and after she'd shown up at the bar that one time, she'd proved that she could navigate the streets on her own. "She's here. Why?"

"Because I want to take her for the day. Get her some essentials."

"You... want to take her shopping?"

"Yes."

It was odd, but he wasn't going to turn her down. "All right. Have her back before dinner."

Rala smiled and entered the house when he stepped aside to allow entry. "Will do, sir. Will do."

Drev closed the door and studied the other two women who hadn't followed Rala any further than the entryway. "And you are?" And why did the second one seem so familiar to him?

One of the women smiled and extended a hand, which he shook. "Dawn Ryan. You?"

"Drev Hallan." He glanced meaningfully at the auburn-haired one who hadn't spoken yet, but she was avoiding his gaze and staring at the floor. Odd...

Dawn's smile turned into a puzzled expression. "You must be Ailee's brother."

He frowned. "You didn't know that already?"

Fortunately for both of them, Rala returned right then with Taloh and Dawn didn't have to explain herself. Rala glanced between them and sighed. "Dawn, keep that up, and it won't be Elsie we end up teasing at reunions."

"Not my fault, Rain."

"If you say so, Gypsy."

The woman who hadn't spoken yet sighed and finally met Drev's gaze. "If the shopping district blows up, it'll be their fault." She stuck out a hand. "I'm Wanda. Pleased to meet you."

Drev stared at Wanda, at how alike her features were to Rala's husband. They even had the same color hair. "Do you... have a brother?"

At this, Taloh chuckled and drew his attention away from Wanda. "Forgive him. He's very inquisitive." She firmly shook Wanda's hand. "Pleased to meet you, too, Wanda. Shall we be going?"

Rala nodded. "Most assuredly. Have a good shift, Drev!"

Drev was left to stare after them for a couple minutes, wondering what was up with the indirectness of Wanda's answers.

He had a boring shift consisting of one too many off-duty storm troopers.

* * *

Weeks before that...

* * *

Ailee was looking over his shoulder with a frown as he put something together. "What is that?"

Darvis didn't even glance back at her as he put the cover on and screwed it down tightly. Smiling tightly, he placed it next to the other one. "Just something that could possibly get me killed."

Ailee picked up the thing that she was refusing in her mind to identify as a lightsaber hilt and studied it. He'd made two of these things. "You're not planning on carrying one around at all times, are you?"

"No. Yes. Maybe. If I do, it'll be concealed. Securely."

"The parts were in that odd package you got, weren't they?"

"Yes."

Ailee, carefully thumbing the activation node and holding it away from both of them, an amber blade of light extended from the hilt. She stared at it, then at Darvis. "Orange?"

"You like?"

"Yes." Turning it off, she handed it back to him. "How did you get an orange one?"

Darvis shrugged and put it back on the table. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"And the other?"

"A variation of white, almost silver."

"Really? Interesting."

He studied her for a moment, the expression of thoughtfulness on her face making him uneasy...

* * *

Couple days after that...

* * *

"What is this?" Taloh wondered as she held what appeared for all intents and purposes to be a metal stick with buttons on it. "And why are you giving it to me?"

Darvis sighed. "This is a lightsaber, and Drev mentioned you kept refusing to even try to use a blaster for target practice. It's a weapon."

She handed it back to him. "Show me?"

Darvis nodded, glanced at the drawn living room curtains, and thumbed it on. A silver-colored blade extended from the hilt, startling her. "Sorry."

Taloh stared at the shaft of hard light. "It's... a sword?"

"Yes."

"Made of light?"

"Yes."

"Do they all come in that color?"

He chuckled and thumbed it off. "I was sent two gems. The other was amber."

She gestured for it and he handed it back to her. "This button here turns it on?"

"Sure does."

Taloh was silent for a long, long moment as she stared first at it, then at him. "Why are you giving this to me? Don't you need it?"

"Don't need that one. I want you to have it."

She smiled. "Thank you, then. I... have nothing to give you."

"Just... make sure that Drev doesn't kill me when I ask for his blessing, Taloh. That'll be plenty."

"Ask for his..." She glanced at Ailee, standing in the doorway that led to her small kitchen. "Oh. Does he even know you're dating?"

Ailee chuckled. "He'd have to be blind and deaf to not know that something is going on. And really, Darvis. You don't have to ask my brother for his blessing if we're not on the planet when you finally ask me."

"Who dared whom to do what, and if that's the case, should I make you some real caf?"

Ailee rolled her eyes playfully at him and looked at Taloh. "Do you remember how to use one of those?"

"A sword? Sure. One of these things?" Taloh held up the lightsaber hilt. "First time for everything, yes?"

"Just know it'll cut through pretty much anything," Darvis told her seriously.

"Really?"

"Yes. So if you use it, it's no laughing matter."

"And using a broad sword is?"

Darvis blinked at her counter question, not having expected that point of view. "Good point."

* * *

Maybe a day or two after that...

* * *

Drev opened the door to find Darvis standing there, appearing to be really, really apprehensive about something. "Oh. Hi."

"Can I come in?"

Drev stepped aside and allowed him entry. "All right. Come in." Then he led the way to the living room, where they sat down and proceeded to stare at one another. "So..."

"I'm in love with your sister," Darvis told him without preamble, right as Taloh started to walk through the living room to the kitchen. She stopped and stared at him. "What?"

"How can I keep Drev from killing you if you don't warn me before hand?" she wondered.

Drev glanced at her, then stared at Darvis. "You are?"

"Yes."

"And your intentions?"

"Are to marry her."

"And you thought I would kill you for telling me this?"

Taloh laughed. "So much so that he warned me he'd be having this talk with you."

Drev nodded slowly, studying the man as he tried hard not to fidget. "She could do much worse."

"Then... you don't mind?"

"Of course not."

Darvis left the house in much better spirits than he'd arrived.

* * *

More than a year after that...

* * *

She smiled tiredly as Drev held their son for the first time, an expression of awe on his face.

"He needs a name," Drev murmurred, finally.

"Amos," Taloh told him softly.

He paused, studying their son for long moments before nodding in approval. "I like that. Amos."

And together, they watched their newborn son sleep.

* * *

fini... but not, exactly, the end...


	12. Toby's Journal 1

Disclaimer: Animorphs belongs to K.A. Applegate and Scolastic. Am happily borrowing.  
Notes: This is the journal they were passing around in the flashbacks during chapter nine... written for a diary challenge and also to answer the question of where the Wave Rangers came from. The answer? Somewhat complicated.

* * *

Entry One

* * *

Have started keeping a diary since one of those humans brought me this... I think it's called a book? Must be book. Not sure what else to call it. Anyway... have stared keeping a diary since one of the humans, I think her name is Rachel, brought this out to me along with some 'pens' to write with.

Not sure why she wanted me to write in it, but I like the idea. And someone must record this historic event... which is going to be me, because no one else here can read or write.

My name is Toby Hamee. I am a Hork-Bajir. I am a seer among my people. I am the daughter of Ket Halpak and Jara Hamee, grand daughter of Seerow Hamee, great granddaughter of Aldrea-Iskilion-Falan and Dak Hamee.

I am the first Seer born into freedom since my great grandfather. I am the leader of my people though I am the youngest among them.

And... oh. Mother's calling me. More later.

* * *

Entry two...

* * *

So where was I? Oh, yes. Forgot where I left off. Explaining who I am to? myself? Yes. I can do that?

I am Toby Hamee and I am a Seer among my people. No, that does not mean I see the future... it just means that I'm a genetic anomaly. You see... my people were genetically engineered by this race called the Arn to be simple. Which... would have been all well and good but for one thing: the Yeerks. To them, the Hork-Bakir are the perfect host bodies, and natural blades on our bodies that are normally used for harvesting bark off of trees, make us the perfect weapons.

My intelligence, my ability to think on a level equal to humans and Andalites and Yeerks... was a genetic roll of the dice. Sure, my great grandfather had the same ability, but what are the odds of it happening twice in the same family a generation apart? Small. Very small.

My great grandmother, Aldrea... she died thirty years ago and I've... met her once. That... looks really odd on paper, doesn't it? What I mean here is that I?ve never met her HER, but I have met her. There was this Arn who needed help and a... copy of her Illixia? That spelling doesn't look right, but basically there was a copy of her memories, of herself made sometime during the war on the homeworld and it survived, along with the Arn who needed our help to get the weapons he hid to arm the resistence there.

Getting back to meeting my great grandmother... I wanted her to choose me. Instead, she chose Cassie. I don't know why. I wanted to ask her, but it's never felt like the right time to ask. It's probably best that Cassie offworld right now with the rest of them. And no... she's not still carrying my great grandmother's illixica around in her head. I wish she was, but it was put back where it belongs when the mission was over.

Getting back to what this journal is for, though... the historic thing, I mean. We're winning. That's why most everyone is offworld right now, but for a few. And I'm going to get the ones who stayed behind to tell the parts that I can not tell because I wasn't there at the time. So there will be a record of these things for people to know, at least partly.

More on that later, though. Time for sleep.

* * *

Entry Three...

* * *

Mother told me that we'll be having visitors for a while. Well, really what she said was "They coming. Going to stay. Will be nice." But it amounts to same thing, doesn't it? I'm happy about this because it means that I can more easily get them to help me with this chronical.

By 'they,' of course, she means the younger ones who were left behind as a sort of 'home guard' while everyone else is in space. I don't know why I wasn't told directly. No, I do know: because I would have volunteered to go along, and Dr. Vernen knows that.

That brings me to the subject I want to keep a history on: what we are winning. We are winning a war against a race of parasites called Yeerks. The Yeerks take person over by crawling in through the ear canal to the brain and infesting them. According to my parents, is both torture and slavery. It was all they knew until they escaped, in fact. I was born into freedom because they escaped.

And then there's the Animorphs... they say it short for 'animal morphers,' which is what they do with a gift they were given by a dying Andalite War-Prince named Elfangor. I'm sure there's more to it, and I still don't know where they got the combat armor from, but... that is one of those things I want to ask. There more than five of them: Jake, Cassie, Rachel, Marco, Tobias, Lauren, and Melissa. My parents named me after Tobias.

The Andalites... were the ones who introduced the Yeerks to advanced technology, which the Yeerks stole and are wreaking havok with while at same time enslaving other races. I've only met two Andalites personally: Ax and Tara. Am wondering... does ixilica of my great grandmother count? She was an Andalite before trapping herself in a Hork-Bajir morph out of love for my great grandfather. The Andalites... they're blue and tan, have a body like a deer, but a human torso, four eyes, and no mouths. They speak by using something called 'thought-speech' and eat through their hooves.

And then there is reason we're winning. We got help from somewhere, and I think they call themselves 'Onvayre.' It's hard to say what they're called, but they look like humans... sort of. Humans don't normally have odd streaks of color like green, red, or blue in their hair, or breathe underwater, do they? Dr. Vernen didn't sit down and explain them to me, nor did any of the Animorphs, but... well, if I COULD explain them, I would. I'd like to know just how they ended up here at Earth years before the Yeerks did, for a start.

For now, though... I just greatful they're here.

* * *

Note: She's spelling it wrong: real spelling is "ixcila" (But let's not tell Toby that...)

* * *

Entry Four...

* * *

Mother and Father told me something today... I'M GOING TO BE BIG SISTER! I know the chances are small, but can he or she be a Seer too?


	13. Toby's Journal 2

Entry Five...

* * *

They're here! It's... what they call the 'back-up team,' whatever that means. See, originally, there were just the Animorphs, then... actually, don't know how it happened. How come no one tells me anything but need to know? It's annoying!

The so-called back-up team was in need of place to stay while also actively and covertly continuing to rescue people who had been taken captive. That part of the fight? Interesting. Wish they'd let me participate more, since I can morph too, now. I have two morphs and got to go flying with Tobias on a surveilance mission! Other morph is... a bobcat. Or is it called a cougar? Either way, it big cat-thing with claws, lives in our valley home, and eats rodents and other small animals. It tried to eat a young Hork-Bajir once, which was how I ended up acquiring it. That is what it's called: acquiring. That when you absorb something called DNA and are then able to use to morph into an animal.

Flying is... fun and weird. Everything looks different from the air.

Why can I morph? When the Animorphs got the morphing cube back, they left it with me for safe-keeping. I wonder what they meant by "watch out for Helmacrons"? What is a Helmacron? And what does it have to do with the morphing cube?

You know what? They're odd sometimes. But advice noted. I do watch out for Helmacrons... whatever they may be.

* * *

Entry six...

* * *

Jake and Cassie didn't explain what the Helmacrons were to Toby? All right, I'll do it. Toby, the Helmacrons are really little. Maybe 'little' isn't the right word. Microscopic is a better one... also meaning little. Anyway, they're small, so small in fact that the only person who can see them usually is Tobias with his hawk eyes. And... their ships kinda look like toys, but they're not. As for why they needed the morphing cube... to them, it's a power source, and at the time, their ships were damaged. And you know how the Helmacrons are really really really really small? Their egos more than make up for the lack of size.

I'm Melissa, by the way. Toby handed me her journal and said "tell me a story." And after having read her entries, I see why. So that is what we, those of us who stayed behind, are going to do. Tell our story. Where to start, though? There's a lot to tell.

So where to begin? I know, or at least think I do. I'll start at the beginning, or what I remember as the beginning. For everyone else, it was that night in the construction site. For me, it was somewhat closer to home. Or, rather: home itself. I couldn't pinpoint exactly the day when my parents stopping seeming to care, but I knew something had happened. Something was off, and it seemed like they didn't love me anymore. I know now that I was seeing the outside of something very simple: they loved me, they still love me, and to keep me away from the Yeerks, they surrendered themselves. They volunteered.

It's scary, isn't it? To think of controllers that way, that one would volunteer for such a thing. That someone would choose to be infested... but it does happen. People do choose it. Others, the involuntary ones, are forced into it. But The Sharing... that was the point: to get as many hosts as possible under the radar. Eva explains it way better than I do, but that was it, in a nutshell.

And that night at the mall... I wouldn't have been there if Lauren hadn't practically dragged me there to have some fun. Which we did, and then met up with Rachel and Cassie, chatted a while, and then ran across the guys as they were leaving the arcade. Then we walked home together, cutting through the abandoned construction site on the way. And that was how we found out that life as we knew it was about to take a turn for the weird and strange and sometimes horrific: an Andalite ship landed in front of us.

See... high overhead in orbit, an Andalite domeship had come out of z-space to find that the Yeerks were already here in force. There was a battle, and during the battle, the dome ship was destroyed. Or, rather, and we found this out a month later, part of the ship was destroyed, and the other part crashed into the ocean. And the Andalite who landed in front of us was one of two survivors: Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul. The other was Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. We call him Ax. It was Elfangor that gave us the ability to morph, to change our form, into any animal that we acquire. And told us about the Yeerks.

And then the Yeerks landed and we got our first look at Visser Three as we crouched behind a wall, scared out of our minds. The abomination. The only Yeerk to have ever taken an Andalite controller. The difference was palpable... sure, he looked like an Andalite, but that was where the similarity ended and the differences began.

Elfangor, dying from wounds suffered in battle... was killed. By the Visser. I... can say no more about that. It still hurts to think of it.

* * *

Entry seven...

* * *

Um... Melissa handed me this journal a minute ago and said to tell a story. She seemed awfully emotional if all this is, is story-telling. Maybe I should ask her which story?

~(~(~(~

Oh. That story. Huh, hadn't looked at it quite that way before. Creepy that my little brother went through all that and managed to not show a single sign when Temrash asked if he'd gone through that abandoned construction site on the way home.

My name, for those unaware, is Tom. I was a controller, and it... wasn't of my choice. I joined The Sharing because a girl I liked was a member. I ended up a controller because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I used to play basketball, but that was before. Before 'I' seemed to lose interest and quit the team. Jake is my baby bro.

I... you know what? I'm going to give this back to Melissa now. Been free a while, but it still gets to me at times. Now is one of those.

* * *

Entry eight...

* * *

Melissa again. He tried, at least. I should have known better than to ask him, but I just didn't think about it.

So where was I? Oh, right... those first couple of days, right after we saw the nice blue person who looked like a cross between a centaur and a deer killed, those were hard. I remember being so spooked that I nearly went to Lauren and Rachel's house with them instead. As it was... probably better that I didn't. Why? Because that's when I started to figure it out, that my parents... weren't.

My father got in late that night, and in his muttering, I heard the magic word: "Andalite." Laying in the dark under my blankets, I nearly didn't hear it. It saved my life.

The next day was a Saturday, so I didn't have to pretend that everything was normal for anyone but my parents. It's weird enough that my father is the Vice Principal, but... to have to be on guard every minute of every day... actually, it's not that weird, come to think of it. Just one more layer of oddness. Or maybe I've just gotten used to it. I don't know, really.

_I want to hear how the seven of you ended up going to the Yeerk pool._

We went to free you, Tom.

_Is that all?_

All right... you and others. You really want me to tell it?

_Yes._

Okay then. After we figured out that you and my father and my mother were controllers, one of us, I forget whom, decided that in order to at least be a threat in some way, we needed to acquire some serious firepower. So we went to The Gardens, the combination zoo and amusement park where Cassie's mom works as a vet, and did just that. As for how we ended up with the name Animorphs... I think the conversation went something like this:

_"Just tell them we're Animorphs."_  
_ "Tell them we're what?"_  
_ "Idiot teenagers with a death wish."_

It was Marco who said it, of course.

So who acquired what? Rachel acquired an elephant, Jake somehow ended up in the Tiger enclosure and... you can guess. Marco got a gorilla. Hmmm... did Tobias acquire anything at The Gardens? I'm not certain... I know he acquired his cat, but after he got trapped in Red-Tailed Hawk morph, I thought it best not to ask him.

I'm getting ahead of myself, though, so... I got a Jaguar, and Lauren acquired a Snow Leopard. Unlike Jake, we had the added advantage of the animals we acquired being sedated at the time.

My first morph was my cat, Fluffer McKitty, not the Jaguar. He was on my bed the morning after... the construction site, and I wanted to see if what the Andalite had said was true, so I acquired him. I didn't try it there, because my parents were home. No, I went to Rachel's house. Why? So much weirdness in less than twenty-four hours, and... just needed to see someone who had been through the same thing.

* * *

Entry nine...

* * *

But getting back to that night. When we met up to go down into the Yeerk Pool cavern, Cassie was nowhere to be found, and Tobias was already morphed. I don't know how long he was in morph at that point, but it couldn't have been that long.

Wait... I left something out here, didn't I? I keep mentioning Tobias getting stuck in morph. The reason he's stuck as a bird is because there's an odd drawback to the morphing: a two-hour time limit. As in, you go over that time, you're trapped. The others were nearly trapped as wolves once fairly early on, and Marco nearly got stuck as a flea. Yes... a flea.

Where was Cassie? Well... there was this police officer who was a controller. He'd seen her in one too many places, got suspicious, and apparently decided to haul her down there. With the mission already starting badly and us getting the willies, seeing her in the hallway hardened our resolve. The mission was a go. Succeed or fail, we were doing it.

The entrance was in the janitor's closet. No, I'm not joking. I really wish I were.

_I remember that entrance. They moved it later on._

You wanna tell this?

_No. Please do._

I remember Marco making some joke as we started to descend the stairs... and I nearly expected him to be prophetic. As it was, he wasn't that far off. It kind of was like entering into hell, in a way. People were screaming to be let go, others were crying... all right. I'm weirding myself out. Must not do that.

So we were going down those stairs, and the size of the cavern was... they could have fit an olympic-sized swimming pool in there, had room left over for a competitive gymnastics arena and several malls. That's how big it was. Is. The place is huge and it's underneath the town.


	14. Toby's Journal 3

Entry ten...

* * *

So in we went, down the stairs and discovering a whole new reason to fight. Not that we hadn't had reasons before, but it hadn't quite felt real until we were standing there, listening to people cry and yell and scream.

Standing there in the midst of all it, the clear and present evidence of an invasion, it was hard to believe that no one knew. That the danger was under the radar, so to speak.

We made a mistake that night... Visser Three showed up in the middle of our rescue attempt and morphed this thing that had a thing for the number eight and spit fire. No, really: it had eight heads, eight arms, and eight legs, and it was huge. I had nightmares about that morph of his for weeks afterward. And we failed in our objective, which was to free as many people as possible. Tom stayed in captivity for a long time after that. Sorry, Tom.

_Don't worry about it, Mel. I'm free now and that's what counts._

We did get away with one person, however: the woman who rode out on Cassie's back. Um... Cassie was in Horse morph.

For every positive, there is a negative... Tobias was trapped in morph. He hid in there and it took too long to escape.

_And that's why the most-looked-for sign of the Andalite Bandits became a Red-Tailed Hawk?_

Yes.

* * *

Entry eleven...

* * *

Andalite Bandits. That was what the Yeerks thought we were, and still do, to some extent. We didn't try to convince them otherwise because it's just one more layer of protection and if they're looking for Andalites, that means they aren't looking for humans that are morph-capable.

_That's another thing. _

What is?

_How did you end up with two Andalites if their ship was destroyed in orbit?_

Oh, that... Not all of the ship was destroyed. According to Ax, the main section of the ship was destroyed while the dome crashed and settled at the bottom of the ocean. Two months after we got our morphing power, invaded the Yeerk Pool and failed miserably, Rachel helped me to figure out that both my parents were controllers by infiltrating the house as my cat, the others nearly got trapped in Wolf morph... Cassie started having dreams about the ocean. She had them first, anyway. Tobias, because he was stuck in morph, had them, and to a lesser extent the rest of us had them as well.

_You weren't there when they nearly got trapped as wolves? _

No, I wasn't. Not that time... I was parent-controller-sitting, for lack of a better way to phrase it. Did you know that it's hard to sit still in fly morph on someone's head? It is.

But getting back to the dome at the bottom of the ocean... it was a mirror-wave call in thought-speak. Which was why Cassie, our best morpher, could hear it, and it knocked Tobias cold. Me... well, I was startled out of a sound sleep at least once by visions of water. Found out later that it was due to having a natural empathy which was heightened by experiencing thought-speech.

Because it was based on thought-speech, that meant Visser Three knew. So we had to find a ship at the bottom of the ocean before they did. This... was not easy and involved the use of Dolphin morphs and an instance of us fighting sharks to defend a whale. And flying in Seagull morph... they're scavengers, so they notice trash and food everywhere.

Example of a conversation held in Seagull morph...

Hey! Look! French fries on the ground.  
Woah! There's half a 3 Musketeers bar by that car!  
Oooh, ooh! Look at that dumpster behind that McDonalds!

Gross, but at least one is not bored as a Seagull, right?

It was a very cold hour or two on a container ship to get us close enough to where we needed to be. To where the whale said the dome was. Yes... the whale. Once we were close enough, we... well, first we had to fall off a ship, but after that it was relatively easy. Relatively.

And that, plus some wildly adventurous fight with a morph of Visser Three's that I never ever want to see again, was how we found Ax. It was just our luck that he acquired a shark while he was down there... And, though they don't look like it, Taxxons can swim really really well. They weren't, however, any match for Dolphins or Sharks. Also, Visser Three's giant red-and-purple monstrocity? No match for the Whale who had given us directions and two of his friends. Not at all...

_What about Tara?_

Tarvina? That's a whole other story having to do with how we got our back up when we least expected to get back up. Six or seven months passed before that happened. You... want me to tell it, don't you?

_Of course. I'm as interested in hearing it as Toby is. Probably more so. And... you didn't realize it was both of them?_

My parents, you mean? No. Not until Rachel took a cat's eye view on things and saw what I didn't. We knew about my father, but my mom was a complete and total surprise. So was the intergalactic phone thing in the basement.

* * *

Entry twelve...

* * *

So let's see, here. Other things that happened during those months...

Oh, I know. Tobias talked Rachel into launching a rescue to free a car dealer's mascot. Only problem with this was that they did it on live TV... and Rachel stomped a bunch of cars due to being the distraction. Also, the mascot was a Red-Tailed Hawk, so it was personal for Tobias. He'd been stuck for a month or so at that point, and I think Marco said it best: "Don't say the word 'cage' around Tobias. He'll do some guerrilla-commando-Ninja-SWAT-team-hawk-from-heck attack on the center, and he'll talk Rachel into stomping your house flat." (Cassie's father runs a Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic out of their barn, Cassie had mentioned cages. At least I think that's what it was...)

Then there's Marco's mother, Eva, whom everyone thought was dead. She'd died the year before in a boating accident... only that's not what really happened and she didn't really die. Technically, she was kidnapped. By the Yeerks. Specifically by Visser One, who took her as a host. A week or so after rescuing Ax from the bottom of the ocean, he decided he wanted to try to go home. It failed spectacularly badly with us ending up prisoners on the Yeerk mothership... which was how Marco found out about his mother. Aside from Jake, who was and is his best friend, I was the only other person to recognize her. My father is an assistant principal and we went to her supposed funeral. Though, really, I'm still surprised Lauren didn't, seeing as she's dating him... or was she by then? It was probably after that when they started dating... Anyway, it seems Visser One and Visser Three never saw eye-to-eye on anything, and in an effort to smear his reputation, she freed us. Or, rather, her Hork-Bajir guards left the door open, gave directions in fantastic English, and told us to skedaddle. Some war they've got going on, these Yeerks...

_I'll say._

* * *

Entry thirteen...

* * *

Some other things I'm forgetting. Oh, right... Jake ending up with a Yeerk in his head for three days. Not just any Yeerk, but Tom's Yeerk. Your first one, in fact.

_So that's what happened to Temrash. I'd wondered about that. How long did he last against people who knew what to look for?_

About five minutes. Lousy actor, that one. But really, I shouldn't be laughing about Temrash. Those couple of days were downright scary and we had to be on guard every minute, and someone had to be with Ax when he was in morph as Jake, or at least close by. One Yeerk with a morph capable host who wants to kill us on a weekly basis and can turn into something that spits fire is one thing, but Jake? He turns into assorted dangerous animals AND he knows our identities.

_Wait a minute. Ax stood in for Jake? And no one noticed?_

Your parents did. He got sent to a therapist afterward due to Ax's odd behavior. You've met the therapist, Tom. Eventually... and by that I mean more than six months went by... eventually, we found out that she, the therapist, was part of our back up. I don't think Jake, Marco, and Ax have lived down ending up as lobsters on a trip to the radio shack at the mall for parts and her nearly cooking them yet, even. Poor Jill.

_Shouldn't that be the other way around?_

Think about what a lobster looks like and then imagine what the morph would be like. As you were about to cook them.

_Ah. Lots of screaming?_

Yes. It's also on the list of morphs never to do again.


	15. Toby's Journal 4

Entry fourteen...

* * *

_There's a list of those?_

Yep. On it are Ant, termite, and lobster. The ant... let's just say that if they had nuclear weapons, it would NOT take them a week to end the world. They hate rival colonies that much.

_Will probably regret asking this, but... termites? And why aren't flies on that list?_

Being a fly is fun, even if turning into one isn't. As for the termites... the Yeerks took an interest in logging. As in, they wanted to find the Andalites who had been causing them so much grief and were convinced said Andalites were hiding out in the woods. So they set up a fake logging company named Dapsen. Only way to get in was to morph termites due to energy shield thing they had protecting the complex.

_Was this when Visser Three got sprayed by a skunk and was told the cure for the stench was grape juice instead of tomato juice?_

See? You're not as out of the loop as you think you are. Yes, it was. Due to trying to infiltrate the place earlier on, a female skunk ended up being singed by a dracon beam. Cassie found out from her father that the skunk had kits, and we... took care of the kits while also dealing with Dapsen. That's how Visser Three ended up being sprayed by Cassie in skunk morph. Not because he was after the kits, though. The day that happened, there was going to be an inspection to make Dapsen legal. Due to our attack, the Yeerks did not get their logging company legalized.

_And the kits?_

Were named after the Ramones by Marco and taken care of until their mother was healed from her burns and freed. Score one for Mother Earth, you know? Or maybe two... logging companies count, too. Bonus for us was turning Visser Three a lovely shade of purple.

* * *

Entry fifteen...

* * *

After Jake got the Yeerk out of his head, we... didn't exactly get a break. Or rather: I got a break and no one else did. There was this gymnastics camp that Rachel and I had signed up for... before. Before Elfangor landed in front of us and changed our lives. In all the hub bub, I forgot about it until one of my parents mentioned it a week or two weeks beforehand.

I wasn't going to go, but after we destroyed the Kandrona and tried to take up the Ellimist on his offer...

_Ellimist? What offer?_

That is where this gets complicated, Tom. The Ellimist, who appeared to us as an old and somewhat translucent man, gave us an offer after he stopped time and showed us a possible future where the Yeerks won. The only one of our group that we saw there was Rachel... and after he showed us that possible future, time resumed and we got out of the Yeerk pool because he gave us an edge: there was a dropshaft leading to the surface.

_I'm confused. This was another trip to the Yeerk pool? _

It was the second trip we took... the third involved the Yeerk's allergy to oatmeal. Instant Maple and Ginger Oatmeal. I'll get to that later... getting back to this one: what we were there to do, which I don't remember now, we weren't able to because a Taxxon tried to eat us. While we were in Cockroach morph. Which was when time took a time out.

_And the offer was?_

To be evacuated with those we cared about, or stay. In the middle of all that, Rachel's Dad got a job in another state and tried to convince her to go with him. She didn't, obviously, but for a while, it sure seemed like she wanted to. Maybe if things had been different, she'd have gone. I don't know.

The Kandrona, right... because the Yeerks need to feed every three days on radiation from the Kandrona, there has to be more than one around, right? The one we destroyed was on the top floor of a high rise building.

_I remember that. When it was destroyed, the secret invasion nearly became public because Yeerks started dying in public._

Right, only it was weeks after that, that we saw even one happen. In the meantime, I went to the camp for two days in order to not arouse suspicion and the others got to wash Visser Three's dog.

* * *

Entry fifteen...

* * *

_Visser Three's what?_

The Veleek. Some kind of dust creature that the Yeerks found in and around the rings of Saturn that fed on energy. This one had been modified to hunt for morphing energy but eat another kind.

From what I was told upon returning from the camp, I missed out on plenty. Rachel was going to the camp with me, got all packed to go, and then didn't. Instead, she flew out to see Tobias in his meadow, got attacked by some birds, and ended up with amnesia temporarily due to trauma. That's what they were able to piece together later, that is. Tobias didn't know the Bald Eagle he saw get swarmed was her until later on.

And the Veleek made it's first appearance at a pool party because Marco had wanted to go, wasn't invited, and snuck in as a mouse instead. The girl whose party it was... her house was reduced to rubble. The reason it was reduced to rubble? Ax and Marco demorphed in the basement... and the Veleek destroyed the house to get to them. It didn't get them then, because at the last minute it was distracted by another morphing person. Rachel.

As the others told me later on, it was a very busy couple of hours whilst they tried to find her with little to no success, Marco demonstrated just how amazingly bad he could drive (Jake still thinks he dislikes trash cans), and the Veleek kidnapping Marco after he plowed into Rachel in Elephant morph with Cassie's father's truck.

_And the amnesia?_

Actually got better due to truck accident. Don't ask me how that's possible. They, or rather, Cassie, 'washed' the Veleek the next day by morphing to whale and falling from a high altitude. Turns out that the Veleek couldn't lift Rachel in Elephant morph, let alone a tons-heavy whale. And it was vulnerable to water, so when she hit the water, it got 'washed.'

In a way, I'm sorry I missed the team-building experience of nearly dying multiple times in one weekend. In a way, that is. Gymnastics is still more fun than running for ones life in wolf morph with a dust cloud that devours trees whole on ones tail.

* * *

Enrty sixteen...

* * *

Morphing energy. That reminds me... I skipped over something here. Toby mentioned having the morphing cube in her possession, right? Well, the reason she has it is because I found it in the construction site. I went there looking for answers three weeks after our lives were irrevocably changed for good or ill.

It had been lodged in a wall, somehow, when Elfangor's ship was destroyed. It may have been the only thing that survived aside from us that night.

Sitting there, surrounded by construction debris... I didn't know what to think. Here was evidence that something happened there that night. It had survived, just like we had. I had been ready to come clean to my mother about the whole mess because I didn't know what I knew three weeks afterward... seeing that blue cube hardened my resolve to keep on fighting. Someone had died giving us a chance to hit the Yeerks where it hurts: when they least expect it, from any direction, any time, and any day.

_It was hard, wasn't it?_

Looking back? Oh yes. It was. I took the cube to Cassie. If I'd taken it home, I don't know what would have happened... other than getting myself and the others captured, that is.

Cassie hid it... I think the first place she hid it was under a water pump in her yard. That's where the Helmacrons later found it the first time. Might not have been the first hiding place she tried, though. There is a lot of places to hide things on that farm.

* * *

Entry seventeen...

* * *

Your turn.

_For what?_

To tell a story, Tom.

_Why?_

Because I want you to.

_Melissa..._

What?

_I can't._

Sure you can. You saw things from the other side. Surely not all of it was horrific.

_Did Jill tell you to heckle me?_

Not in so many words, no... When did you first know you liked me?

_This isn't like we'd be passing notes in class, Melissa. It's Toby's journal._

And yet we're passing the journal back and forth having an argument on paper. Pretend it is.

_Alright... It was when I saw you at our front door a day or so after... Jake must have been a controller. He acted really odd for him, and then he began acting normal again, but subdued. I don't remember what you were there for._

To see you, even though I knew you weren't you you. An experience like that, with one of our own becoming temporarily the enemy, however unintentionally... you remember the phone call, right? The one telling you not to give up?

_Yes. When did you know?_

That you were a controller or that I like liked you?

_The second one._

It took a while, but I think I knew it right about the time we found out that androids built by an extinct race had been living on Earth since the time of the Pharaohs. And had created dogs with the essence of the Pemalites. The Pemalites were a race that got attacked by this species called the Howlers and wiped out, and the Chee, the androids, escaped with dying Pemalites... whom they grafted onto Wolves, which looked like them, a little. Pemalites had three legs... and their space ship kinda looks like Snoopy.

_What?_

Now you know why your dog is always in such a good mood. As for how and when... we were at a Sharing function in morph and I saw you off to the side being all supervisory. That's when I knew. You might not have been totally yourself yet, but that did not matter. I could see it shining through when the Yeerk let his guard down.

_See what shining through? And what does this have to do with androids?_

The person under the control. And Marco found out that a friend of his was a Chee at that function, which is what it has to do with androids.

_So... the Yeerks have been infiltrated by androids AND they are attacked on a weekly basis with guerrilla tactics? No wonder they're losing._

Not the point, you know. We got help. A lot of help. That is why we're winning. And... judging by the look on your face, Tom, I'm guessing I have to tell it now? Okay... some more happened before that. We're getting there.


	16. Toby's Journal 5

Entry eighteen...

So after Rachel acquired a crocodile, we found out she was allergic to said croc DNA after she accidentally morphed to elephant in her bedroom, and went on a talk show because she saved a kid who had fallen in to the crocodile environ... and also "burped up" the DNA... You know, next time any of us come down with an allergy to something and it's REALLY important, I think we'll know to ask: "What did you do with the extra animal?"

_Why?_

The melee on the Barry and Cindy Sue Show... Bart Jacobs, the animal guy, did not bring a full grown crocodile to set that day. Rachel did. And poor Jeremy Jason McCole? Power House just isn't the same without him... the little traitor. Also... that red-and-purple monstrocity of Visser Three's? Not the only water creature in his arsenal. He also has this thing called a Lebtin Javelin Fish which shoots spears. Don't wanna see that ever again, either.

Oh, and Tobias got his morphing ability back, even if hawk is STILL the body he's stuck in for a permanent body right now. Interesting story there... he was taking Rachel and Lauren on a tour of Yeerk pool entrances he'd found and came across Toby's parents as they were escaping from captivity. That was a madcap couple of days while we first figured out that these two Hork-Bajir were free and escaping of pretty much their own will, that Ket was pregnant with what turned out to be Toby, and helped get them to this valley they now call home. As a sort-of reward for the effort that he put in, the Ellimist gave Tobias what he wanted, and Tobias has been a morphing red-tailed hawk ever since... and his original human DNA as one of his morphs, too.

_What about the extra help?_

You don't wanna hear about the Andalite toilet first?

_Huh? What Andalite toilet?_

That's what they're studying out at Zone 91. An Andalite toilet... Ax called it an "outdated waste receptacle of a type no longer in use." Oh, and the Yeerks infiltrated the place as horses. Yes... horses threatened all humanity.

_So that's why they modified the Horses to be able to speak Galard. How do you know about it?_

Cassie's father got called out for a sick horse, and took Cassie and Rachel out to the Dry Lands on a sort of... house call? Anyway, according to Rachel, the horse in question had been bitten by a snake, and when they got there was trying to dial the phone. Cassie's father missed a Yeerk crawling out of it's ear because he went to go get his medical things or something. And then, because the Yeerks were in the area and seriously not wanting their horse-modifications discovered on examination, they fried the horse to ashes, and Cassie got knocked out.

Anyway, in order to find out more, Marco, Cassie, Rachel, and Lauren went out to Zone 91 for a better look around a day or so after that. They spotted the horse-controllers, and then got caught by base security and had to lie about their identities to the military. Poor Captain Torelli... wait, seeing as he chased US around The Gardens, I think he deserved people thinking he was coo-coo for wanting to find Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Cindy Crawford, and Jessica Tandy.

_There's more to this story, isn't there?_

Yep. In order to not get caught again, we went to the race track to acquire some horses.

_And?_

Let's just say that it led to Cassie acquiring the horse who was predicted to win the Kentucky Derby, her ending up IN the race, and winning it. Probably scared the bejeebers out of that jockey, too.

So we, as a team, went back out to Zone 91, morphed to horses, and joined up with the horse-controller herd. That's right... they picked up a herd out there. And then there was much chaos at Zone 91 because the Army or the Air Force, or whomever is out there, weren't expecting horses to invade them and get all the way to their lab. Problem for them: they didn't know what they were looking at because they'd never been aboard an Andalite ship... or rather, because Visser Three didn't go and infiltrate the place in horse morph himself. Alloran would have likely known what he was looking at, just like Ax did.

Which leads us to the Yeerks, in order to find out what was really going on out at Zone 91, infiltrating The Gardens so they could grab some soldiers. The Zone 91 people, who were there under the name of Gondor Industries, had a sort of fun night out... and due to one of us misinterpreting military time, we were an hour late in showing up. That meant there was no time to plan and look around and see what was what.

_And?_

It led to us spreading out, nearly getting caught by a very upset Captain Torrelli, and foiling the Yeerks to the tune of 'You're a Grand Old Flag.' ...you can stop laughing now, Tom. Really.

And as for our back up? About a week after the incident at The Gardens, we were kidnapped while having a meeting in the woods. Is it possible to be kidnapped by a dimensional portal? If it is, then we were.

_I don't understand._

Well, you see... there was this very disgruntled Time Guardian who was upset with the Ellimist. They were apparently engaged or something... I don't know. Didn't get the full story on that. Whatever the case, she kidnapped us, let us be for a few days in a dimension where Zordon was on trial or some such thing, and then gave us the choice of staying where we were or returning home with help. Lots and lots of help. You can pretty much guess which one we chose. She didn't guarantee that we'd win, just let us return with the promise of help and how to find said help, and who they were. And something about a woman living in Chicago named Brigid... that one didn't make much sense...

Oh, and the armor. We have that because the eight of us made a side trip to Phaedos, went on a spirit quest, and became ninjetti at Aniya's, the disgruntled Time Guardian, request before sending us home again. It's weird... I ended up silver for some reason. And not one of us girls is a pink. And... hold on. What is THAT?!

Have to put the journal down for a bit here. Some people just popped out of a portal... people who I last met when we were kidnapped to another dimension. Or is it that I saw one of them a week ago? Am confused, back in a bit.

* * *

Note: As I don't get to keep the colored text to differentiate between people, the third person in an entry is in bold text instead. Ranko's was red.

* * *

Entry nineteen...

* * *

I'd say this is weird, but I live weird regularly. Heck, sometimes I think I eat it for breakfast half the time... before I get to actually eat breakfast. First and foremost? I was right. It was them. Is them... whatever the right term is, I don't care. As impossible as it should be for them to even be here, they are.

**Melissa, you're getting ahead of yourself. It's not my fault we shocked you by coming home early. I didn't even remember that we WOULD be coming home early as it is. I wonder if I can get out of actually writing a mission report if I say "Oh, Toby made us do it twenty years ago. You want me to make photocopies?" And... no, I don't think anyone would go for that. Which... bummer, really.**

This is Ranko, by the way. She and her team were temporary visitors to the dimension when we were inadvertently kidnapped there by Aniya. And... as it later turned out, in a very weird string of events, also part of our backup. Man, that was a weird week, her being suddenly younger and not knowing us. What was it again, anyway? Some kind of training mission?

**Well, yes. Not everyone could go back in time, and all of us needed training. As for your getting kidnapped... that's kind of a long story and you (as well as Tom and Toby) are lucky that I got to read the mission reports. She was mad at him.**

_Who? And at whom?_

**Aniya. She was upset and looking for alternatives, ways to end the war and lower the body count. So she kidnapped you guys. Well, not Tom, but you know what I mean.**

You mean we are some kind of experiment?

**No. That's not it and you are missing the point. She intervened and gave you a choice to come home... to lots of help waiting for you. Remember that conversation she and Esherat had in the Power Chamber?**

Barely. Something about not being able to forgive and an affair that had taken place? Sorry, but it's kind of a blur.

**Don't be sorry. It's two and a half years ago for you... and less than three months for me.**

_Who is Esherat?_

**The Ellimist.**

Or, as we love to call him: The All-Powerful Galactic Pain In The Butt.

**He's calmed down some since they finally got married, you know. So, that day in the power chamber was the first time they'd really talked in like 400 years, and he had to apologize for cheating on her with her best friend. I say 'cheating' because they'd been betrothed before their world was destroyed by invading forces. Or... not destroyed. It's still there, recovering slowly over time, but the environment was impacted so badly that no one lives there, even now.**

_Is that some kind of common tale, or something? Worlds getting invaded and destroyed?_

**Not as common as you'd think, Tom. Also, because she pulled it off, this quasi resetting of the equation, Aniya got her man. Granted, she had to talk Salana into helping, but that must have been easy compared to making Esherat realize she was right.**

Why would talking Sala into helping be hard?

**Ever watch the Beetlejuice cartoons?**

Um... not a lot... why?

**Sandworms.**

Oh. That explains so much. You know, it's weird talking to you when I saw you a week ago right before you and the others left for space. You're different, but not THAT different... only word I can think of is 'weird', so let's go with that one.

**You think it's weird? The last time you were this young to me, I was eight years old! Which, for you, WAS a week ago. Time and relativity: fun.**

You can't tell me what is going to happen tomorrow, can you?

**You're kidding, right? I wasn't here to be able to tell you.**

That's not what I meant.

**I know it isn't, but you are asking something I can not answer. Not even if I wanted to. Rule #1 of time travel: do not tell the future, as it is always in motion and can change at any time. I can, however, tell the present. Someone showed up very unexpectedly to give them a hand out there. As I remember it, it went something like this... **

**"...that's the battle plan," Mom said, finishing her outline of the plan we'd come up with earlier in the day. This plan? What I can remember of it was utterly nuts... we were JUST the people to be pulling it off. "What do you guys and gals think?"**

**Jake turned to his teammates. "Votes?"**

**"It's insane," Marco said simply, and put his arm around Lauren. "But we're in."**

**"Ditto," Lauren said.**

**"I'm in," Rachel spoke up. You know Rachel: she likes suicidal plans. **

**"So am I," a voice said from the doorway.**

**Everyone turned to see who it was. Diana nearly had a heart attack. "C...Ca... Carnegie?!"**

**Carnegie, Time Guardian we never get to ever see in action, nodded. This one time, we did, and man was it a doozy. "Yes."**

**"But you can't fight," Sala protested. **

**Carnegie smiled solemnly. "Actually, I can fight, I just don't like to."**

**"Then why come?" Tara asked. You know... it's hard to remember Tara's an Andalite half the time. She spends so much time as a human that at times it is hard to tell the difference. **

**"Why not?" Carnegie countered. "Sitting in my office reading reports is boring... and I really don't like alien invaders." She let the human facade drop for a moment, startling just about everyone in the room. And by that, I mean she went from looking completely normal to... something that caused Erek, of all people (though you can't really consider him a people), to fall flat on his face from the shock. Which, I'm here to tell you, was shocking in and of itself, considering the fact that I was standing next to him when he did it. **

**Sala stared at Carnegie in her natural form and then looked over at Erek, who was picking himself up off the floor because I was too stunned to help him. "Erek? You ok?"**

**Erek dusted himself off for a moment and then nodded. "All systems go, Sala. I'm fine... It's just..." He stared at Carnegie. "Why didn't you tell me that you knew a Pemalite?" **

**Carnegie, who now looked human again, got a really strange look on her face as she looked at Erek. "Sala? Why does he know about Pemalites?"**

**Marco interrupted before Sala could start what I still think would have been a very long explanation involving pyramids. "Erek's a Chee."**

**It took a second to register, and then Carnegie was smiling. She pulled what looked like a chrystal out of her pocket and gave it to Erek. "You'll be wanting this, then. You have my permission to erase your memories of combat later, Erek the Chee."**

**"Uh, Carnegie?" Diana spoke up. "He's a non-combatant." **

**"Well, I'm making him a combatant. I saw what happened to my home because the Chee didn't fight, and I'm not about to let it happen again because of stupid mistakes." Carnegie missed the Howler invasion because she wasn't there at the time... I think, anyway. There were references in her file of training and being under an information blackout, whatever that means. **

**Marco turned to look at Sala. "Are you sure she's a Pemalite?"**

**Sala just laughed. "As sure as I am that you're a human and Ax is an Andalite... and be glad she's on our side."**

**"Actually, I'm from Remykia," Carnegie pointed out. "That was the name of my home planet. Pemalite was just what we called ourselves."**

**"Right," Mom said as she jumped back in to the conversation. "Carnegie is a Remykian, Erek is now a combatant, and we all approve of the plan. Have I missed anything?"**

**"No," Sala muttered. **

**"Good. Let's break for lunch." Everyone stared at her. Can't blame them. It was the most lighthearted she'd been in weeks, if not months. "What?"**

Should we be worried about them?

** Nah. Be worried for the Yeerks. The plan was totally crazy, but it worked. For the most part, anyway. **


	17. Toby's Journal 6

Entry twenty...

* * *

_But you don't remember what the plan was? _

**No, just the outcome and the in-between. Also, I wasn't in on the planning, just the briefing because Uncle Chenro commandeered me for a security drill that took more than three hours that morning. **

Security drill?

**Yeah... we were under a military alert and most of my training was medical up to that point. I knew how to fight because of the latent memories that came with my morpher, but mom wanted to be certain I could handle myself, so he put me through some paces. Sparring with Thunder's security staff when I actually do know six ways to knock them on their butts? Fun. And then I got chastized for not actually going full bore and then actually had to learn things. I love my uncle for chewing me out for my own benefit, you know? **

** Getting back to Aniya and Esherat for a moment, because I still can't believe this happened in so public a forum. We were talking about something when he popped in with roses and tried to apologize to her. Or start apologizing, that is, for his and Palora's behavior. She wasn't exactly happy to see him.**

** I looked up as he approached and smiled. "Hi, Esherat. How's it going?"**

** "Huh?" Aniya asked as she turned to look at him. "Oh. If this is about 252, Esherat, go away. I'm working on it." I think 252 refers to some kind of shorthand call sign for our dimension, but I could be wrong about that. **

** I was confused for a moment before I realized what was going on. I mean, we were 20 or so years in the past and I knew these people. Somehow, I'd gotten the asumption that they'd always been on good terms with one another. "Ah. I'll see you later, Aniya." I nodded to Esherat, who was very obviously confused because he had no idea who I was, and left the two of them alone. As alone as one can be in a room with ten people, a phantasm, and a robot, that is.**

** "Who was that?" **

** "That would be Ranko Matire. She's here on a training mission, I think. She's one of the changes you were so adamantly against." I'd turned around just in time to see her glaring at him. And really... they'd argued about timeline changes? And I was one of those? Still awkward and weird. "Why are you here, Esherat?"**

** "I'm sorry that I hurt you." He pulled out a rose. "I apologize for my actions and I am sincerely sorry for what happened with Palora. Can you forgive me?"**

** Aniya opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out, so she shut it again. Instead, she took the rose from him, smelled it, and then kissed him squarely on the lips. **

** Across the room, a few of us were watching in mild shock, except for me. "So that's how they got together. I always wondered about that."**

** In a flash of blue, Palora was standing next to me. When she saw what Aniya and Esherat were doing, she smiled. "It's about time."**

** Back over by the viewing globe, Aniya stopped kissing Esherat and smiled at him. "I can and do forgive you. Never do it again."**

** Esherat smiled down at her. "Deal. I love you, Aniya Corrin."**

** "It's Ravin," Aniya corrected him. "I changed it about two hundred years ago. And I love you, too, Esherat Dowali. Always have."**

** "Even when we were fighting because our parents dragged us into an engagement neither of us wanted?" This sounded weirdly familiar... **

** "I was young then," Aniya said wryly. "We both were. And by the time I was ready to tell you, you had an affair with my best friend. I was so mad that I went out and did something that earned me a reputation as a troublemaker. Merkye would have been proud." **

** "That's why the Shreeya Fighter Incident happened?" Esherat wondered. "I thought you did it because you wanted to change the time line." I want to know what the Shreeya Fighter Incident was. Seriously, I do. **

** Aniya shook her head. "No. I did it because I wasn't thinking straight. Aside from you and Palora going to bed, Chala and Erisa disappeared that day, too. I was angry and grief-stricken and frankly didn't care where that portal opened up. It was just my luck that it caused a war." Aniya got the reputation for being an absolute troublemaker somehow, and that must have been the how. Also... which war?**

**Esherat pulled her into his arms. "I am so sorry. I didn't know."**

**"Eshy, I've had a hundred years to calm down. I'm not mad anymore... And I apologize for upholding Bareen Tradition the way I have. Can you forgive me for that?"**

**"I'm confused. Bareen tradition?"**

**"I had to wait for you to say something first. That's tradition," Aniya explained.**

**"Oh. I forgive you."**

**Aniya smiled at him again and glanced off to the side and saw the smiles she was getting from the collective of us, Palora, and Flabber. Then she looked up at Esherat again. "Do you want to meet the Wave Rangers?"**

**"What Wave Rangers? There isn't an active team right now."**

**"Now, no. In twenty years? Yes. They are from 252's future. The one you got into an argument with me about."**

**Esherat looked at her with an expression of wonder. "Oh. Introduce me."**

**Aniya led him over to where us and Palora were standing. "Eshy, these are the Wave Rangers."**

**Peter turned to me, a confused expression on his face. "They don't know us?"**

**"No, Peter. To them, it's twenty years or so ago, I think," I told him. I remember being utterly amused by all the differences... still amused by it, really. **

**"Oh," Peter said and looked at Esherat. He held out his hand. "Hi. I'm Peter Johnson, Blue Shadow Wave Ranger and second in command of the Wave Rangers. It's a pleasure to meet you, sir." **

**Esherat shook the out-stretched hand. "Nice to meet you, too, Peter." Then he noticed Amy smirking at him. It was hard not to notice. "Why are you looking at me like that?"**

**"No reason, really," she said and wiped the smirk off her face. "I'm Amy Ranton, Copper Fire Wave Ranger. Nathan says hello." Nathan is, or is going to be, their son. Also Amy's boyfriend. But we couldn't tell THEM that. **

**"Who?"**

**I intervened before Amy could say anything else. "A guy we know, at home. We can't tell you about him. AJ, you know better than that."**

**Amy blushed. "Sorry. I'll go check the scanners."**

**I watched her go over to the control panel where some guy in armor, Marco, and Ax were watching the readings. "You do that, AJ."**

**"Did I miss something?" Esherat asked, confused by the conversation that had just taken place.**

**Aniya shrugged. She was confused, too, over that little statement. Can hardly blame her, there. "We'll probably understand in twenty years or so, hon." She looked at Palora. "And Palora?"**

**"I apologize, too. Again, that is."**

**"And I accept your apology. Again," Aniya replied. "Now let's never talk about it again."**

**Palora nodded. "Deal."**

**"Wait," Esherat interrupted. "What do you mean? Again?"**

**He didn't notice me quietly herding my team towards the control panel. *Oh, don't mind us. We're going to check the readings on the sensors now.* It's not our fault that distance did NOT mean we would hear LESS. The Power Chamber just isn't that big.**

**"Esherat, we kissed and made up fifty years ago." Aniya explained. "When Palora found out that the two of us were, in point of fact, betrothed and that I was in love with you, she and I sat down and talked it out. Palora apologized and I forgave her. The reason she apologized again just now is because, under Bareen law, she wasn't in the wrong, you were, and I couldn't officially accept it because of a technicality."**

**"Which I understood," Palora pointed out to both of them. "We have, or had, a rule like that on Denara." Denara is Palora's home world, and also the world that my extra terrestial relatives, most of them, come from. And she's half right... they did have a law like that. Don't anymore, however. It was repealed.**

**Aniya smiled at Palora. "But her apology helped me to forgive her." Aniya looked at him for a long moment. "But until you apologized for it yourself, I could not accept it. Now I can and I did."**

**"That makes no sense," Esherat muttered.**

**"And a future team of wave rangers being present in the wrong dimension before I've really changed anything DOES?" **

**"You have a point." She totally had a point... sort of. At what point was the change made so we could dem-hop and meet up with them? Or is it all relative? I don't know. But, just for the record? No, it really doesn't. **

**"It never made sense to me, either, but I followed it anyway. The fact is, we were practically engaged and you broke an oath of fidelity and I couldn't say one word to you because, by law, I was required to wait until you came to your senses." Aniya paused for a moment and sighed. "There. Now you know. Let's please change the subject."**

**"Alright," Amy said from over by the control panel where we were still listening with an avid interest. Here was something that was ancient history for us, we knew how it turned out, and we were STILL on tenterhooks listening to them. "What day of the week is it? We've been dem-hopping so much that I've lost track."**

**"Thursday," Flabber volunteered from the plasma tube. Don't ask me why he was in there. I didn't ask them probing questions about their situation. They had enough to deal with without having to explain it to us as well... **

**And that, as they say, is that. Mostly. You want to handle the meeting or should I?**

The meeting?

**Aniya gave you a choice, remember?**

Oh, THAT meeting. Can we tag-team?

**Sure.**

* * *

Entry twenty-one...

* * *

It's still weird and disturbing that a woman like Aniya would put a choice of weather or not to let her help us save the world... to a group of teenagers consisting of a bird, six humans, and an Andalite.

**Actually, Ax is over 21... which is three and a half in Andalite years. Conversion is something like 7 Earth years to One Andalite year. He just seems younger due to being not from our planet. **

Ah. It's still disturbing. So was that meeting.

_There's something I don't understand... You look eighteen or so as an eight year old?_

**Long story of long stories, Tom. And yes, due to certain factors, that is very much the case. Why?**

_Curiosity._

**Well, we're about to sate it a little, okay? **

_Lead onward, oh red maiden of electricity._

**Funny... I don't remember ever playing basketball with you. Did I?**

_Only once. You don't still happen to electrify the ball, do you?_

**Of course I do. That's half the fun! **

Before we get to the meeting, I'm filling Toby in on some things. I didn't go with the others because I was needed here... my parents are still controllers and there are things to do here. So who all stayed? Myself, two Shifters, Tom, several Guardians, members of the Yeerk Peace Movement, Allison, Hildy, and their kids Mary and Danny, Marco's parents Eva and Jeremy, and several members of the team calling themselves the Elements. Oh, and some Onai soldiers, too. (Toby? You're right. What they're called IS hard to spell. Must be the differing accents...)

**It's pronounced On-vay-ri, actually. Mom spells it in English as Onari, Onai, or any varient thereof. And look! You got totally unexpected extra help because we're home early! And, um... by 'us and we', I mean myself and my team who weren't supposed to be here until next week or next month (whenever it was supposed to be, still confused) to pick the Elements up so we could all go home together. **

So you're not averse to going into to town to do stuff?

**Not at all. If we're here now, that means we were before. **

_ That's really confusing, you know._

**Try living it, Tom. **

And really: I'm NOT backup, even if I don't get to go on missions that often! My parents, or rather... the Yeerks pretending to BE my parents would notice if I was gone too often and would get suspicious. More suspicious, that is, than they otherwise would be. Plus, though I do not get to go on many missions, I do get to spy plenty... half the time in fly morph or something equally small. Find out some interesting things that way... Wait. Maybe I am backup after all. Not that that's a bad thing, really.

**Melissa, you're there when they need you. That's what counts. **

The battle armor... we have that because she wanted us to have an edge. Its something called 'ninjetti'... my animal spirit is a Fox. It's funny, but I didn't have a Fox morph before becoming ninjetti, and now I can't imagine life without it. So... we got both an edge and back up.

**And that meeting... we were still there because the frisbee had yet to completely charge. **

_Frisbee? _

**Dimensional portal changer device thing. **

_Oh. _

* * *

Entry twenty-two...

* * *

This Toby. They'll be back. They had to convene meeting and discuss plans. It... very odd story they tell, isn't it? Odd, but interesting. Maybe everyone will write a little if ask? Want to hear how Loren was found, too, because no one explained that one, either. How can she both be here and out in space at same time, anyway? Very odd.

Going to join meeting now.

We back from meeting. Plan made for a method of attacking Planet-bound Yeerk problem with subtlety... and, for some reason, one or more of persons who appeared out of swirly mass of energy seemed nervous. I wonder why that is?

Am giving back to Melissa now.

* * *

Entry twenty-three...

Where were we in this? Oh, right. The meeting. So this meeting, well it was something else... once we agreed to going home with an edge, Aniya told us who we'd be returning to. Ranko and her team were still hanging around, too, which was odd.

**Not that odd. The Frisbee needed a couple days to charge, or we'd have been on our way sooner. You don't want to know about the one time it needed three or four weeks to charge and we were stranded far from home. **

_Why not? _

**Let's just say there was this girl who found out we weren't from around there and Peter was an idiot and didn't shush when I told him to. Not my fault that she picked up languages right quick. **

Am I going to get the details of that one when you can finally tell it?

**If I take you to lunch in, say, twenty years, don't be too surprised at the subject matter and remember that you DID ask. **

Okay... Anyway, about that meeting... she laid it all out, and then let us decide. I guess it's ovbious what we decided, but then she led us through a bunch of slides regarding the back up we'd be getting. Ranko, I still don't get how your mother's hair changed colors like that...

**That is something I still can't explain, really. Has to do with a bond on a genetic level and how my biological father's DNA interacted with hers... which, if Aunt Samara ever really explained it, I could really explain it better to you. Chalk it up to being weird, even for us, and leave it at that. **

I think I will, thank you. As I was saying, she led us through slides of people we'd need to be on the lookout for. Among them was Jake's therapist, a substitute teacher, a female Andalite, the extra dimensional double of a guy we'd just spent days getting to know in the power chamber...

_Back up. Who is the double?_

Ryan.

_Oh. That's... odd. _

Who else? Ranko?

**Fifteen teenagers, my extra-terrestial relatives who fell through a wormhole accidentally and ended up here at Earth in 1980 and met my mom, also by accident. Oh, and Diana's team, including, but not limited to, Wild Cat, Tiger, Katie Scott, and Tara, the female Andalite you mentioned. Speaking of Katie... it's been a long time since I've had to think about it, but... is she still having readjustment issues?**

You mean she actually gets better and sleeps regularly eventually?

**I'll take that as a yes. That's good... Diana may want to yell at me when they get back, but we can definitely use that to our advantage. **

You've lost me, Ranko. How is Katie not sleeping going to help anything?

**It means she has an overabundance of power. Combine that with elements and animals and what can't we do? **

I get it. Good thinking.

**I try. Now all I have to do is convince Katie to get some sleep this afternoon. Or... convince Ryan to con Katie into taking a nap. That could work... Getting back to that meeting, though. We had to leave in the middle of it. What happened after we had to leave? **

Aniya told us about Roger and Regina. Rachel freaked.

**She did? Try Mom and Dad's reaction to finding out about the Yeerks the hard way: being captured while on a night out together. That's how we ended up with those two, and also why the Yeerks STILL don't have a clue that there's a Federation ship out in Jupiter orbit. **

_So... Roger and Regina... _

**Were Yeerks. They aren't anymore, Tom, but they were. Long story there, but basically... one of my relatives is a genetacist. And... other than that, I don't know how they did it. Their names were originally Tavrenga 647 and Etral 975, not that it really matters now. **

Doctor and Professor Vernen were captured?

**Yes. It was a very weird six hours, all right? And no, they didn't even last that long because a ship full of empaths is hard to fool.**

_Wait just a minute. How did they sneak past a ship in orbit? That... if the Onai were here before, then..._

**Because the ship was actually in Mars orbit and Mars was on the other side of the sun when the future Visser One and Essam landed during Desert Storm, Tom. Plus, their ship was small and it was at least a year before the Yeerk empire started showing up en masse. As for how, exactly it went undetected? We weren't looking for cloaked ships. That mother ship of theirs in orbit? It doesn't show up on normal sensor scans and doing an advanced sensor sweep would alert the Earth satellite-based systems as well as the Yeerks themselves of our presence.**

_That sounds... complicated._

**No more complicated than the guerilla warfare thing in an urban setting, right Melissa?**

Right. Weren't you going to go talk to Ryan?

**And leave you two alone with the journal?**

_I think we'll get by, Ranko._

Wow... she sure got up quick. Not sure I've ever seen anyone besides Rachel that determined about something.

_I missed all the fun, didn't I?_

Define fun, Tom.

_The way you talk about fighting... the commeraderie?_

Ah. You want in on this plan we cooked up?

_Yes... Where are you going?_

To get the morphing cube from Toby. You are not going into anything without a morph or two, or the ability itself. Come on.

* * *

Entry twenty-four...

That very odd. Now one more person can change into animals. Was not expecting that one, but feel that should have been.

Melissa took Tom to acquire... Now who I get to tell more story? They left in middle!

Oh, I know. Wildcat!


	18. Toby's Journal 7

Notes: Aftran's text was originally in purple, and here's where we enter the land of name similarity. And that only makes sense if you've also read Obsessed With Flowers...

* * *

Entry twenty-five...

* * *

This... is actually less crazy than Aniya saying 'I messed around with a time line and now I need volunteers'. She didn't phrase it that way, but I got the feeling that she wanted to. Hi. I'm Wildcat... it's not really my name, but that's what everyone calls me. Turn into a Panther at a social function by accident and run amuck one time, and people remind you of it for eternity with a nickname. My name is really Widia Parmiza, so I guess it's close enough to count.

_At least yours is particular to you. Mine..._

Fits you perfectly, Tiger. Her real name is Temaru, by the way. Toby came to us, handed me the journal, and said 'tell the next part of the story.' So we are going to do just that. Aniya sent them home to replacements... us, but returned them back to the point at which they vanished through that portal.

_Problem was that they had to find all of us, and in some cases we found them instead. _

Which wasn't easy, considering how well we all blend in. And the first all team meeting we had? I'm still not certain why Marco poured water all over Jake and Cassie... other than to get their attention, that is.

_They were kissing, it was his right to interrupt them. _

And if someone had ever done that to you?

_I can turn into my spirit animal much faster than Jake can morph, Widia. Plus, you would have been much more upset than me. _

I hate when you're right, Battle Sister.

_No you don't. _

**Are you two going to actually tell this story, or are you going to tease one another all afternoon? **

We're going to tell it, Aftran. Patience.

**My name is Ella now, and I am being patient. Probably more patient than Toby is. **

Yes, I do know that. Speaking of stories to tell... are you?

**Of course. **

Good. So where was I? Oh, right... Marco poured water all over Jake and Cassie to get their attention, and we all introduced ourselves. It was rather confusing, that first meeting... but then, twenty or more people meeting in a clearing in a forest is confusing all by itself, isn't it?

_Definitely confusing._

* * *

A/N: The mini-challenge for June was Water...

* * *

Entry twenty-six...

So we were all gathered in this clearing, and Marco poured water on Jake and Cassie... they'd arrived before everyone else, lost track of time, and failed to notice when people started showing up. I think it was the last time they got that lost in one another right before a meeting...

**No it wasn't, but Cassie isn't here to defend herself on that account.**

...Aftran?

**What?**

That's one thing no one needs to know.

**This is a priviledged information thing, isn't it?**

Yes.

**Sorry. Force of habit... you can stop laughing now, Tiger.**

Ah, let her. Release of tension is good!

_Sorry about that. It's just... the thought of Aftran knowing what they were doing because of her... shall we say extra-curricular abilities?_

Sounds about right. Or nature of the Yeerk species. Take your pick.

_That thought was hilarious, even if the situation was not._

**I'm flattered. I think... And now Wildcat is laughing at me...**

* * *

Entry twenty-seven...

* * *

**Since Wildcat's hands are shaking too much from laughing now, I'll tell the next part from Cassie's memory. She and Jake were having what had been meant to be a private moment that ended in being splashed and embarrassment. And then the three groups were introduced to one another formally. See, the day before, Dr. Vernen's team had saved their butts, and her team and Diana's already knew eachother somehow. Maybe it was an adult thing, I don't know... **

_Not an adult thing. More like an Aniya thing. She put some things in motion and we ended up running into one another, kicking some Yeerk behind, and joining forces. Pardon my mention of the butt-kicking, Aftran._

**No need for that pardon... I know how you mean it. The entire Yeerk Peace Movement knows how you mean it. **

_But still... just to talk of it that way to you._

**There's a reason my name is Ella now, Tiger. I might hate human math, but it's still better to be involved and be present... even if it is my people dying out there until we can get them to see that invasion is not the only way. **

Back now. What do you mean by that?

**By what? Invasion not being the only way to get hosts? It's simple: symbiosis. And... going by your expressions, neither of you were present for the Iskroot incident. **

_No, we managed to miss that one. What was it?_

**The Animorphs saved a species called the Iskroot from the Howlers once. The Iskroot were really two species, not one... the Isk and the Yoort. When I saw that in Cassie's memory after being rescued from the Yeerk pool, I wanted to immediately run and tell everyone I could. We don't have to be parasites who enslave. It means so much, just to know that. **

It does.

**Getting back to that meeting... the third group was the extra group of teenagers ranging in age from 19 to 15 years of age who just all seemed to blend in so well that one would think they'd always been around. Except they weren't, there are things they can not reveal, and they bare more than passing resemblence to various members of the Animorphs, Diana's team, and Dr. Vernen's team. And I still don't know if the last names they gave are their real ones or a cover... it's hard to tell with them. **

Could be both.

**Not that it matters what their story is. They're here, they're helping, and that's what counts.**

* * *

Entry twenty-eight...

* * *

**And... where was I? Oh, right. That first meeting in the woods... I think they picked that particular spot because it was where the portal opened up, actually. Right there... what better place to hold a meeting?**

It was? All the more significant and important, then that a life changing event be memorialized twice.

**Agreed. So let's see... wait. You two were there. Why am I the narrator?**

Anne told us to give you lessons in English if we could. Now's a good a time as any. Go on. Tell.

**All right... So just as Cassie heard distantly Melissa say, "Uh, Lauren, I think you should go save your boyfriend before Jake kills him." That's when the wetness happened and Jake turned a glare on Marco. Why, exactly, he'd brought a pitcher of water to a clearing in the woods, I'll never figure out.**

**Lauren came over and pulled him away, gently chiding as she did so. "They would have stopped eventually, you know."**

**"Sometime tomorrow, maybe," Marco griped, seemingly unrepentant. Then he winked over at Cassie and Jake, and Cassie got over her embarrassment, turning to Jake with a shrug, saying... "He does have a point. You did call this meeting, after all."**

_Sorry to interrupt here for a moment, Aftran. English written tip for you: Normally only one person speaking per paragraph._

**Really? Thank you. Getting back to this... Jake in Cassie's memory sounded very put-upon: "Yes, but I was expecting everybody to late." Which... I don't get. If he was expecting them all to be late, why not just say an hour later and then pretend they were late when they arrived?**

**"Never happens that way," Cassie told him sincerely. And, underneath her bravado, there was a feeling of utter, utter embarrassment to be caught in so private of a moment. This was after they'd been kidnapped to Iskroot and after running into me that first time, which would have made it... five, six months?**

More like four months, really. A lot can go down in a very short amount of time.


	19. Toby's Journal 8

Entry seven...

* * *

Date: November 17, 1999  
Location: Hork-Bajir Valley  
Status: ...I'll let you know about our status when I know for certain what it is we're doing. So long as it doesn't involve a talking, shape shifting Zebra saving the day, I'm fine with it.

Aftran and Wildnat had to go talk to Ranko about something, and I was just walking by, minding my own business when Wildcat handed this journal to me and said 'write something.' Having read through these a little... huh... Ket is pregnant? I'd say I was surprised, but I stopped being surprised long about the time a friend's mother met her husband in that karaoke bar. Before that, even.

Hi. My name is Chris, and though I COULD tell you my last name if I wanted to, I'm not going to. Even Toby's journal isn't completely safe and secure in that respect. And yes... am slightly paranoid. Spending a year or so helping fight a war against parasitic aliens who would raze the planet of all plant life and enslave everybody will do that. Less paranoid than most, because I know we win, but still paranoid that one little thing, any little thing, could change that outcome. I don't know how telling Toby my last name in writing could alter time, but... yeah. I'm not going to say and just leave it at that.

Toby wants to know how we found Loren, among other things, because all she knows are vague details... and she's the walking weapon, not me. And it is wise not to argue with a girl who has blades on her wrists... and other places. Dad calls her people 'walking salad shooters'... he's odd, my father. Even twenty years from now, he's odd. Seeing him now, I get why. War, any kind of war, does things to people. (Sorry about the 'walking salad shooters' thing, Toby.)

Reading through the entries, I think I know what they were going to tell next, so I'll go there first, and then go forward from there. I'm part of the team known as the Elements and we're from... another time, I guess is the best way to put it. We were sent back to help, even though I still think they didn't really need our help.

That first hour or two while we were getting ourselves oriented to our home town where things are way different? Weird, I'm here to tell you. Things are either missing, in the wrong place, or... I'll stop there. You get the idea. Different, the way one would expect due to time going forward or backward noticeably.

As for Loren, who is Tobias's mother and was missing for years and years... Elsie, my girlfriend, and I were on a date a year ago. (Was it a year ago? Sure feels way longer than that...) Or would that be 'trying to HAVE a date'? Which ever it is, we usually get WAY sidetracked due to her ability being related to the paranormal. The spirit world never seems to give her a break. At all. Which... gets really frustrating at times, but I'm learning to live with it. Not ever letting her walk into a graveyard again, though, if I can avoid it at all possible.

So anyway, we were headed to the mall to see a movie when something from the construction site across the street 'called' to her. I could tell she didn't want to look into it, but badness follows us if we avoid the small things, so look into it we did. Or, rather, she did while I stood there like an idiot and yawned.

_You did not stand there like an idiot, Chris. You were supportive!_

Are you telling this or am I?

_You, for the moment. You want the journal back?_

Yes.

_All right... I'm telling the other stuff, though. Here. Have fun._

That was her, obviously. She pulled it out of my hands. Personally, I think Elsie's forgotten that I write better case reports than she does. Which probably means we've been here too long and not actually had to WRITE any case reports... Am I homesick? Must be.

Getting back to the story here... While I stood there, watching her as she opened herself up and investigated, I was making certain I was close enough to stop her if she went berserk, but far enough away to not disturb her too badly.

She crouched down by this piece of wall for a minute or two, studying it, then went all glowy. The glowy is both good and bad, and in one memorable instance led to us following the trail of a legendary wolf the size of a mack truck through the suburbs of Chicago. Not the actual wolf, mind you, just his spiritual residue. Long story short... there was a witch. And four missing kids. They're fine, as far as we know, but the wolf and the witch bit the big one in another dimension. (If anyone is curious: guns CAN kill creatures of myth and legend who have never seem 'em before.)

Right... she went all glowy. I think she's beautiful, glow or no glow. She stopped glowing, looked from the piece of wall to another spot about thirty feet away. Then she looked up at me, and that's when she caught me in a yawn. "The thing under the foundation over there is a time doohickey."

I could only blink at her in confusion. "A what?"

She rolled her eyes and stood up, motioning to the piece of wall. "Time matrix. Foundation. Over there. Under." And yes, she said it just that way.

This was where Elfangor died, being eaten by Visser Three and also where my parents had gained the ability to morph from him, so I had expected something weird. But a time matrix? No. That hadn't even remotely been on the list. "Oh... time matrix?"

"Yeah."

"It wouldn't be incredibly powerful and dangerous and need destroying right this second, would it?" Can you tell how much I just wanted a normal evening for once? We didn't get said normal evening.

_Chris? You want me to take over now?_

No.

_Why not? You're whining!_

It's cathartic. And stop taking the journal away from me.

_If you want normalcy..._

Don't you even dare think of making a deal with Running Moon, Elsie.

_But you said you wanted a normal evening. She'd so do it, if I asked nicely._

And then take every opportunity thereafter to go to you instead of Dawn. No. I love you as is, crazy outings and all.

_You trying to make me blush?_

Always. Now let me tell the rest of it, all right?

_If you insist. Just holler if ya need me. _

Will do... I think I made her blush. Or as close as she ever comes to blushing, that is. Usually, one of us is too distracted to notice or something...

* * *

Entry Thirty...

* * *

So we were standing there, me wondering out loud if the time doohickey needed destroying right that minute, and she made a really good point: "No, it's only a problem if it's used and since it's buried under the foundation of a building, it isn't really dangerous... Besides, it can't be destroyed by someone other than a Time Guardian."

Which was the best news I'd heard that week, honestly. It made me grin and hold out my hand. "Great. Let's go and catch a movie like we planned, all right? ... Well, barring the supernatural, that is."

"I'm not that bad, Chris," she tried to defend it, but I know better. I live with her crazy antics day in and day out and I'm the only one she can't fool. We've been through too much together for her to be able to pull the wool over my eyes.

"Indian Burial Ground, loud angry ghosts, and the beach when we were five," I reminded her. "You are and you know it."

"But you love me anyway."

She had me there. "Yeah, Angel, I guess I do."

"You guess or you do?"

At this point, we had stopped walking and I took her in my arms, smiling the whole time. "I love you with my whole heart, ghost's and all." True. I do. (I only whine occasionally because some times it gets repetative. Very repetative.)

And speaking of repetative, that was when she had her second realization of the evening. Seems going all glowy had led to a vision or two. "Good. And, speaking of the supernatural, could we just go to the food court and talk? I just figured out what a part of that first vision was about and I need to talk about it." Elsie knew she needed to talk it out for it to make any sense whatsoever. That's the way her ability works sometimes... though half the time, it seems like we're talking to a ghost while TRYING to figure it out.

She leaned up, we shared a kiss, and then she smiled apologetically. "Sorry, but it might be important."

"I would love to help you talk it out, Angel." But does it always have to happen during a date? I tell ya, the spirit world is WAY too opportunistic!

_Of course it is. They have nothing to do but watch people all day long, and then someone who can see or hear 'em passes by, and poof, instant opportunity._

Are you reading my aura for cues or something?

_No. Occasionally reading over your shoulder._

Ah... can I finish?

_If you want._

Thank you.

So... by the time she needed to talk to figure it out, we were at the food court in the mall. As we sat down at a table near our friends, Leah and Johnathan, who were on Patrol under the guise of having a date. This is not the same as actually HAVING a date, as they were really watching everyone but each other... there's an entrance to the Yeerk pool in one of the dressing rooms at The Gap and an exit in the movie theater. The thing we didn't realize at the time was that Wildcat and Tiger, who normally take the evening sweep before a holiday, weren't there. Being that this was the day before Thanksgiving Day, one of us should have thought to ask where they were. More on that later, though.

We invited them over, and Elsie said the oddest thing: "I know what happened to Loren." Why was this odd? Well...

Leah: "Uh, Elsie? Lauren is at that event with Rachel in New York." You see... None of us were thinking 'oh, right... woman we know in our own time whose son is currently a bird with morphing capabilities. THAT Loren.' Why not? Because, as embarrassing as it is to admit, time travel and distance from our own time had left us somewhat... swiss cheesed, so we'd forgotten certain things. And Lauren had gone with Rachel and her family to New York to see the Thanksgiving Day Parade in person, so... we can be forgiven slightly for mistaking the two.

As Elsie explained: "No, not her. Michelle's grandmother, Loren. You know... the person who told me to find... herself."

Jonathan was the first to get his voice back, as I was busy trying to remember anyone asking something so bizarre as to be found when we didn't know they'd be missing in the first place. "She asked you to find her? I didn't even know she was missing to begin with. You do realize how that sounds, don't you, Dusty?"

"Leave the jokes to other people, Jon. And yes. She did."

That was when I realized what Elsie was referring to. "I think I get it. Loren went missing, right? When Tobias was little? Then she reappeared... oh. So that's what this is about." And there went our evening, straight to Weirdsville with a capital 'W'. Not that it wasn't already or anything... And to top it off? That's when Marco joined us in the food court, saying he was happy to see us and wondering where Wildcat and Tiger were. Thing was... Leah had only gotten a partial answer from Tiger, and even then it was really vague, so all she could say was that they'd gone on an outing. Looking back, I'd say it was a little more than an outing.

* * *

Entry thirty-one?

* * *

So where was I before I had to play referee with Dawn and Elsie while they compared notes on who has more control? (For the record? That would be Dawn. Vincent is so lucky... or maybe not, depending on how one looks at it. Less excitement, more intense things happen when she IS affected.) Oh, right... Elsie had figured out, or thought she had at least, where Loren was. Which was, so she thought, in a coma in some hospital in town. Having been present when she had the vision that led to this, but not having actually seen said vision myself, I was understandably baffled. So, for that matter, was Marco, having only just entered our conversation.

Leah asked her the particulars of where and when she had it (less than an hour before, construction site where something less than pleasant happened), and then she sent Jonathan to get Tobias from the woods. Or would that be both Tobias AND Michelle, since she sleeps out there in a tent alot? I'd say why that is, but...

_Since when is my connection to him a secret, Chris? Toby knows I'm a family member, so you do not have to write in code. _

I'm starting to wish I'd gone with the others. And yes, I realize that. How'd that go, anyway?

_What? Me getting paged in the dark? _

Yes.

_Pretty much that: me getting paged in the darkness of my tent and then having to wake up a very sleepy and disoriented red-tailed hawk. He said something along the lines of "Ah, Mom, Aunt Cammie, we already fought today," before completely coming to and realizing that I wasn't either his mother nor his aunt. And we had had a rip-roaring fight against the Yeerks that morning in an abandoned warehouse that they'd been using to store their brand-new Kandrona, remember? That's why he was so tired and disoriented. _

Something like that is hard to forget. What's the plan, by the way?

_Here and now? Still confused, but I think they're planning some kind of holding action or something, and dang it. I really wish I wasn't so swiss-cheesed about this. It's frustrating. _

That it is. Not much we can do about it except live it, though.

_I know. You good on this now?_

Yep. Thanks.

_Anytime... and I'm glad you two didn't go with the others. Life's boring without you around. _

As I'm telling about how Elsie managed to find a missing person by having a vision or two amid the rubble of the construction site, I don't think I'm inclined to disagree.

Anyway... getting back to the story here... Leah went to get Ann from Thunder because we needed a hacker, while Marco got filled in on what was going on. Once he understood what we were talking about (which, by the way, was weirder than normal, us having to fill HIM in when usually it's the other way around), he started thinking of places for us to go and figure this out. Leah came back with not only Ann, but also Ranko, and Rose and Travis joined us in the mean time. (Did everyone have a date night planned but Marco? I'm surprised we also didn't end up with Jake and Cassie!)

_No, Jonathan ran into them while heading to the woods to get Tobias, so they weren't left out entirely. Just... you know, not at the mall. _

I stand corrected. So after everyone got filled in two or three more times and Ranko made some comment about not being able to go home until late due to bad cooking, Marco suggested we go to Erek's house. Why? Well... what better place to talk about finding missing persons than that of an android who can jack himself into the phone system?

* * *

A/N: Continuity note... this is rather not how Loren was found in the cannon. That involved the Yeerks finally getting smart and using the DNA that the Animorphs left behind after every fight to finally start IDing them. (And now I shall cease with the book 49 spoilers for anyone who has not read it yet and still wants to.)

* * *

Entry thirty-two?

So we were at Erek's house, trying to figure it out, and... let's just say for the sake of argument that this was weird on a scale of one being my girlfriend ending up in a trance to ten being 'it's raining Hork-Bajir and Taxxons, and Visser Three wants to eat us for lunch rather than detain us.' This... well, this was an even five. Maybe six.

We had Ranko (the eight year old medic in training who is more than a little obsessed with Number Munchers), Elsie, Ann (who once hacked the planetary defense grid by accident... it was messy, very, very messy), Leah and Rose (non-identical twins who can rival Elsie on a bad day for weirdness), Travis (Ann's brother... who, if I remember right, kinda helped Ann hack the defense grid), myself, Marco (puns, bad jokes, morale... strategy), and Erek the Chee (the aforementioned android not of this earth). On second thought... this was totally a six. With a potential for disaster written all over it.

As if it weren't enough that it was this group of odds and ends all gathered together in one room in the house of an android... it was Leah who laid down the plan. And more than three people who all pulled out their bags of weird tricks to actually figure out that, in fact, Loren had been laying, hidden in relative plain sight, unconscious in the NeuroICU of Hope Memorial Hospital for the better part of ten years in a coma. What we managed to piece together later was that she'd been brought in anonymously, severely injured, with no ID whatsoever on her person... and then never woke up from the persistent state of deep sleep for whatever reason.

But before we (or rather Leah and Rose via a technique that Elsie fondly calls a 'gypsy ball' but is really just another way to use energy) could even start to narrow down the location, it was Ranko, reading Elsie's laptop screen over her shoulder, who gave us a small surprise. See... Elsie types everything in Navajo due to a case we had where there was this ghost of a Navajo code talker involved and he taught us both how to understand and word the language. And, while we knew that Ranko was pretty good at translating languages in her head from an early age due to something her aunt had done with her, what we didn't know was that one of the languages she could read was, in fact, Navajo.

_I remember that. Sorry, Chris. I still read over people's shoulders. Bad habit, I know. And I couldn't read it fluently, just enough to understand it in fragments. _

How's the plan coming?

_We're going to, at the very least, scare the pants off them. Weather they're actually wearing pants or not._

Oh. Good.

_I wonder... you think Tally would want to take part in it, too?_

Bad idea... or maybe good idea if you want the Yeerks terrified. Go talk to her, see what you can come up with.

Like I was saying, it was that small surprise that caused Leah to make Ranko promise to keep secret whatever she saw on Elsie's laptop. The response to which was: "I promise, sister dear." Honestly, I don't know which version of our leader startles me more... the eight year old sarcastic language sponge, or the twenty-seven year old who is, at this moment, planning something where the Yeerks are gonna be so scared of us that they faint dead away.

And then they focused on figuring out where Loren was... which led to Ann wondering which hospital they were talking about because, at some point in time, it gets renamed from Crystal Cove Memorial Hospital to Hope Memorial Hospital. Once that little detail was covered, Ann was able to hack (rather illegally) into the hospital records using Erek as a kind of modem. Then there was small discussion on what to do regarding what there was of the medical data in the computer system, and whether we moved on it right then or waited and presented it to the adults in the morning. Ovbiously, we didn't wait, but with Leah in charge we weren't about to waste any time... especially not when Marco volunteered to scope out the place rather unneededly in fly morph. We had Erek and his hologram capability, so the idea was shot down immediately.

Oh, and Leah told Elsie to replace the data with that of another case to be a distraction. Which lead to Elsie and I going through cases, trying to figure out what to use. Sounded something like this...

"Chris, do you remember this one?"

"That was the one with the comatose German pregnant lady, right?"

"Yep."

I pointed to another one. "How about this one?"

"Happens next year."

"And this one?"

"No. Senna, the subject of that case, disappeared two weeks ago."

"This one?"

"Top secret project in New Mexico, the releasing of which information would bring both the Federal Government AND a Rear Admiral down on our heads. I'd like to avoid that, okay?"

"Well... What about this one?"

"Can't use it. That guy gets hit by the subway train in September."

"Are you two insane?" That last from Marco, who had every right to stare at us and wonder if we'd gone nuts. Not that I blame him any... it IS nuts. From a certain point of view, anyway.

After going through a few more, Erek was given a case file that couldn't possibly ever be tracked back to Cairo, and we set out. To pull of what I still say amounts to kidnapping. Sure, it turned out fine, but that was a hairy half hour or so wherein we forgot to get Ranko a wig to cover up her very identifiable red/blond hair coloring. Why was that important? Because her mother works at Memorial, and it was how she found out about our nocturnal activities. And also because a woman-girl with red streaks in her blonde hair leaves a lasting impression.

* * *

A/N: I was going to make everybody guess at the references last entry, but I changed my mind. So, in order, the references to which Chris and Elsie were referring to were these. One: the comatose German pregnant lady was an actual event that occurred in the mid-90's. I never found out anything more than broad details, but the mother was on life-support so the baby could be born. Two: Senna Wales is from the Everworld book series, also by K.A. Applegate. Three: The top secret government project in New Mexico is Project Quantum Leap. (As for why Elsie would have information on it? That's for her to know.) Four: The guy going to be hit by the subway train is Michael Wiseman from Now and Again.

* * *

Entry thirty-three...

Leah's crazy plan was actually pretty simple: get in, grab her, and get out. Only problem with the plan was the 'sneaking past the staff' part of it... with an unconscious woman in tow. Which is where the plan got a little more complicated. Turns out that Ranko, who, even at the age of eight, looked unnervingly older than she really was, was up to the task of donning a lab coat and lying through her teeth to get us in after visiting hours. After all, her mother works there and she knows the place like the back of her hand.

Erek came along because he wanted to see this play out, and Ranko... pretended to be bringing a 'family' to identify a Jane Doe. The nurse on duty waved us by, and we held it together long enough to make it to Loren's room without breaking the somber mood we were trying to affect for the benefit of the nurse.

Which lasted about as long as it took to close the door. I'll not say anything more than that.

So there we were, the eight of us in Loren's now cramped hospital room, now at a loss and wondering what to do. She wasn't hooked up to a ventilator, only a nasal canula, and aside from being utterly unconscious (which Ranko confirmed with a pen light of all things), appeared to be healthy. Sallow, but healthy.

Leah and Rose were going to try to wake her up right there with some of their own energy, but both Elsie and Ranko told them not to. It would have been a drain on their combined life energy just to maintain it. So, instead of doing that and getting a woman who hadn't been mobile at all in years and years to move kind of under her own power, Rose helped Ranko to unhook the monitors and removed the canula, and Erek gently picked her up. And then, with another pass by the nurses, we got out of the building.

And then, protected by Erek's hologram, the eight of us teleported to Thunder. I still don't know who was more surprised: Eshara when we handed Loren over to her safekeeping for treatment, or Tobias when we told him what had happened. Probably both.


	20. Toby's Journal - Extra

Live Action Entry

* * *

A/N: I suddenly realized that I had a character who wasn't going to be writing an entry present for this whom I don't get to work with usually. This isn't an official diary entry, so the header isn't getting an update date. Just something which I wanted to do because, again, ordinarily I don't get to work with the character. That chara: Carter, Ranko's... let's just say he was a good friend and teammate. It's less complicated to explain that way.

* * *

He watched as she stomped away from her husband, frowning. That was a little odder than normal, even for her. Meeting Peter's gaze, he nodded in her direction in question, and Peter nodded back. It wasn't just him, then.

She didn't even look up as he sat down next to her on the log. "If Peter sent you over here to reiterate his point, you can walk away right now, Carter."

Carter blinked and glanced over at the aforementioned man. He was listening, but turned away from them. "I'm not going to do anything of the sort."

"Good."

"Am going to ask what's wrong, though."

She laughed suddenly. "What isn't? On top of the crazy battle plan which I can't take any part in by order of the blue menace over there, I'm also craving sushi. With Ketchup."

"Isn't that normal about now?" Her mention of odd food cravings was making him long for home suddenly.

"I don't like sushi. And he's right." Ranko glanced at him, smiling. "And I'm sorry for reminding you about Maria at a time like this."

Carter shrugged. "Don't be. Not your fault... if we could get you some sushi and ketchup, would it satisfy that craving?"

"Maybe."

Glancing around to make certain no one was looking directly at them, Carter turned back to her and did something incredibly forward: he stuck his hand straight through the hologram he knew was there to feel her belly. With Ranko, he never could trust his eyes, and she never gave straight answers unless she wanted to or it was school work. Her... larger than expected belly. "Ranko?"

"What? And do you mind?" She swatted his hand away and glared at him. "Okay... what you just did? That's a large part of the reason for the hologram protocol. My stomach is NOT public domain."

"Sorry. Does Peter know your pregnancies only last seven months?" And if he didn't before, now he did because Carter noticed Peter's hands clench in frustration.

"Not exactly, no." She winced when he glared at her. "What was I supposed to tell him, Carter? That he was going to be a Daddy way sooner than expected?"

"That's a good start, yes... Or I can tell Savage to put you in a sleep chamber for your own good."

"I'd probably do it, too," Savage teased as she sat down on Ranko's other side. "Tired?"

"No."

Savage snorted at the childish whine in that one word. "You're lying. You have been since that shadow thing a couple of jumps back."

"Go away, Savage. Pester Susan into some drills or something."

"I think Sue's had it with the drills for a while, and don't change the subject," Savage said as she handed a ration pack to Ranko. "Eat and thank me now, whine later about how unfair being grounded is... Of course, later you might actually be in labor or something. You'll probably want to whine then."

"What is this..." Ranko wondered as she studied the label the ration pack. "Sushi flavored rations? Does this actually say with ketchup, or am I reading it wrong?"

"I remember what mom was like while pregnant... probably better than you do." Carter frowned at her over Ranko's shoulder, and Savage jerked her head in a motion toward Peter. Ah, she was editing herself, knowing he was listening. "Started to wonder about how to make weird tasting ration packs for the heck of of it, just to see if I could."

"Why do you have them with you now?"

"It's good to be prepared. Eat... and we'll go see to making this plan work while you explain yourself to your husband." Savage grinned slightly as Peter turned to glare at her with raised eyebrows. "You're not going out there, either. Doctor's orders."

"You're mean, Savage," Peter told her.

"No, I'm sane. And you two need some talky time. Alone." She turned to Carter. "Wanna go help save the world?"

To not have to listen to blow up fight number whatever, he totally wanted to. "Lead the way."

"Carter," Ranko started to say as he got up, then shut her mouth when he looked at her expectantly. "Never mind. Be careful out there... and I want all the details."

Carter nodded and clapped Peter's shoulder as he passed him. "Finesse. Remember that."

"Right. And how often do you have to be reminded of that yourself?"

Thinking back to some of the arguments he'd had with his wife before unceremoniously being kidnapped into this mission out of necessity involving an Aztec demon, Carter could only shrug. "Never said I was perfect about it."

Peter rolled his eyes in reply and went to sit next to his wife. They talked for a good long while.


	21. Toby's Journal 9

A/N: Apologies to Christopher Pike for the use of a certain concept found in the pages of a novel called "Remember Me." (That concept? Wanderers. And really it was the second one. There were three.)

* * *

Entry thirty-four...

* * *

Date: Still November 17th...  
Status: The plan will not be involving talking Zebras. A scary and somewhat hormonal planetary guardian on the other hand... *shudder* At least this one doesn't involve Taxxon morphs, a need for a wide-spectrum cone of frequency silence that takes myself and two others out of action for a month straight, and an insane sub-visser with detachable arms bent on killing us all. That... was less than fun. In fact, it wasn?t any fun at all.

I finally got it! I finally got it! (And I'm almost offended. He does not write better reports than I do! Mine just tend to... weird people out.) Er... Hi Toby, this is Elsie writing, and before I hand the journal off to Michelle (for she was present for what happened next), I want to do an entry here.

While we left Loren in Eshara's care, there was a son to fill in on just what we'd done somewhat illegally. If an adult had been with us that night, we never would have potentially compromised anything the way we did. Although... Suna had an opportunity to stop us in our tracks and didn't because it was 'for the good of the timeline' that we act like our loony selves. And that's just what happened... Ranko's innuendo-laden food jokes included. And speaking of that... she was eight and her stepfather has the worst way ever of getting her to leave the house. Something about really bad cooking and being genetically lactose intolerant. It still doesn't make any sense, but whatever works for Professor Vernen... though, if he was trying to be subtle about it, it didn't work. At all.

Briefing Tobias had to be halted for like five minutes because all the stress of the evening finally caught up to me and... let's just say I was shaking and mumbling about a certain Andalite being eaten and not one bit coherent.

But getting back to Loren... a Time Guardian, Tasha, showed up not long after we'd left Loren in Eshara's care, and helped heal the rest of the damage that hadn't already healed in the time that she'd been in that coma. As for why? Well... Tasha had a very guilty conscience about something and was pulled away when she shouldn't have been because of Aniya needing a favor. (And I know this because Tasha herself can't lie worth beans. It's not important, but my life would be so much simpler if she could.) That favor? Well... Rose wouldn't have a boyfriend now if she hadn't gone, and that's all I'm saying. Cause and effect, you know?

It wasn't, by the way, one missing person. It was two... only I didn't figure out the second part until Chris and I had excused ourselves for the night and gone to watch a movie. Loren and Greg (who wasn't missing, just slightly amnesic due to really weird factors involving second chances and wandering back to the living) owe me big for that one. Twice in the same night, and the second one involved not actually getting to watch the movie, a surprise Thanksgiving Day visit to a guy who was pleased as punch to have unexpected visitors, and Loren discovering that time had passed ala Rip Van Winkle while looking through that week's TV Guide and not being able to find her favorite shows. This... was not a pleasant way to tell someone that they've got the task of helping a Wanderer through the remembering process.

As for why Greg was important... you know how I said he'd somehow gotten partial amnesia? Seems he'd had it for a year or more... since right about the time that Elfangor was killed. Maybe a little before or after, he wasn't able to name exactly the day. More on that later, though. It's weird and I still don't understand it.

Giving the journal to Michelle now, as, like I said, I ended up being indisposed for ten or so hours due to sudden realization and remembrance of other half of causality loop that led me to having to track down someone I didn't remember until just that moment. (And... that was how I found out that online phone books didn't yet exist!) Don't worry about what a causality loop is, Toby. Like a lot of things I can't really explain, that one also not important.

* * *

Status: New wrinkle. Savage grounded Ranko AND Peter after they had an argument, and called it "medical prerogative." And Carter mentioned something about weird food cravings in passing. None of that really makes sense, but Elsie was smirking as she handed the journal to me after that little announcement. Somehow, I don't think I want to know what that was about. Good thing we've got nearly our full complement, though, if we're going in without Lightning Girl and Shadow Lad. And... I really have been here too long, if I'm making comic book references in a status report.

Well, this is awkward. Never thought I'd be admittedly writing about my grandmother's reappearance years before I was ever born. And I take it back: finding out my father was trapped in bird morph for that long? Not the weirdest moment of my life. It might just be Allison's when we finally get home, though. And Toby? You CAN NOT show this journal to anyone. Like ever. You wanted to know and we told you. It's as simple as that. No showing it to everybody else when they get back: they lived it, they don't need to know our side of things for a LONG, long time. Also, I'm going to stop writing in code. We are what we are.

Loren (for she's not 'Grandma' to me yet) spent the night unconscious in Thunder's MedBay 4, under the watchful eye of Eshara, myself, Tobias (not 'Dad' yet, either), and Tasha (who didn't want to leave). Tobias spent the night perched on a stand they'd set up for him, and, aside from Loren waking up utterly disoriented around 3AM and then needing to be convinced to go back to sleep, it was very subdued and quiet. It... was the middle of the night. Of course it was quiet.

Actually... there was something off about her waking up disoriented like that. She yelled a name: Fred. Fred was Tobias's uncle's name. Uncle-in-law, really. Now, I have no idea why she'd have yelled his name like that, and later couldn't ask her, but... it still strikes me as odd. Just had to mention it, and I've never met the man because he died of a heart attack a couple of months after Tobias 'disappeared' (re: was trapped in bird morph).

About seven AM that morning, something changed. A baby cried from down the hall. Okay, so she wailed. It was startling, as none of us had quite realized that anyone was in labor. Turned out that Amy's mom was on board to have, well... Amy. And by the way? It's weird to have Amy here right now, just like it's weird to have Peter as an adult, and Ranko the-not-anymore-obsessed-with-Number-Munchers. And our Peter? He talks AND has a wicked dragon kick. The little one doesn't talk much and hasn't since his parents were killed a year ago on a mission and the Ryan's took him in. It's very, very disorienting, to suddenly have them here like this. And... wow. Didn't think I'd missed them that much.

So anyway, it was indeed Corry, Amy's mom, and Amy herself, and the ship's computer has a wacky sense of humor and had deposited Leah via teleportation beam right in the middle of medbay the night before while Corry was in labor. As that's kind of a normal occurrence, for the computer to do that, Leah probably wasn't shocked, but it likely earned Silver, the ship's AI, a perturbed computer expert running computer scans for a day and a half afterward.

And... I'm babbling. Sorry. I do that when about to try to pull off a plan crazier than the last two years put together and set on spin. Well... excepting the Polar Bear thing. Who knew the Yeerks would find ice creatures extinct for millennia, do some genetic engineering, and use those as guard dogs for their latest plan to take over the world via kandrona beams being beamed into swimming pools around the world? Frankly, I'm glad I ended up in a swamp in Florida that week instead. Sure, humidity and mud leave a lot to be desired, but at least it's not the Artic Tundra in the middle of winter! And I'll never figure out exactly which group it was that caused nearly everyone to get the Flu, and Ax and Tara to need brain surgery for their version of Appendicitis. Swamp... really cold place with snow... it's a toss up and it could have been both.

_When was that, exactly? Don't remember anyone talking about Poler Beers._

Polar Bears, Toby. Big, white, kinda cute, but real mean. And you weren't that old, yet. A month or three, maybe. And you've seen Cassie use the Polar Bear morph more than once.

But getting back to that morning, and off my tangent... Aside from the added weirdness of Amy's mom being there, it was normal enough for Thanksgiving Day. Okay... so that's a bald-faced lie and I am horrible at denial. The only normal part to any of it was Tobias morphing to human as she, Loren, was waking up.

And then there's Eshara, who had appearently pulled a very long shift before we'd given her some excitement, and thus needed to go to bed. So she got a replacement, which turned out to be Emanee. To this day, I still don't really know why Emanee picked Ranko for medic standby duty. That family? Weird.

* * *

Next entry...

* * *

So Loren was waking up. That's where I left off, right? She woke up and didn't immediately recognize her son because, well... he'd grown in the eight or so years she'd been unconscious, and that led to some explaining on our part for Loren who was all confused. She was rather puzzled about it right up until the point where we mentioned the Yeerks. And right about then would have been a really, really good time for Elsie to have told us exactly what it was she saw when she got that vision, but she didn't, nor was she there, so we were left with confusion until Loren explained what she remembered.

Turns out that alien encounters run in the family... and she'd met Elfangor after being abducted on a camping trip with Melissa's Dad. I'd like to know what he was doing on her camping trip, or if that was some kind of accident, and right now it's hilarious. Or maybe not... according to her, Mr. Chapman is the reason the Yeerks found out about Earth in the first place. Which... is either the joke of the century, or the saddest story ever told in the history of mankind.

After we got Loren mostly oriented, Emanee released Loren to quarters on the stipulation that she have a medical attendant: Ranko. Ranko, who had been in the middle of what she called a debriefing when Emanee paged her. The debriefing was actually breakfast with Luke and Ally Chapman, niether of whom are related to Mr. Chapman, former (and present) alien abductee, assistant school principal, and unknowing invasion causer. And it was probably more therapy and talking than it was breakfast.

Small thing about having Ranko around in a professional capacity: she reads non-stop and lets people make her patient who has just woken up from a years-long coma faint from shocking news. Then again... what's more shocking? The fact that we were on a spaceship in orbit of Jupiter, or that her son turns into a bird? She handled the first one rather well, but the second... maybe it was a good thing that Ranko was studying Abnormal and Adaptive Psychology that week. And that? Actually not a joke. And that's why we adjourned to helping Ranko's mom with Thanksgiving dinner: because some things are best left to adults. Medical care being one of those.

* * *

Next entry...

* * *

All this brings us to Tom. Why Tom? Because that's where Wildcat and Tiger were. Seems they were on patrol early in the day and decided they couldn't take it anymore when they saw him going to the entrance in the Gap yet again. So they basically kidnapped the guy at 'my finger is a gun in my coat pocket' point, alerted the Chee to what they were doing, and one of the Chee impersonated Tom AND his Yeerk for a while.

I'd give the journal to Tom, or Wildcat and Tiger, but Melissa is putting Tom through his morphing paces and the other two are helping and giving pointers, so I can't. But here's what I know: they hauled Tom to a holding cell, explained to Thunder's security chief, Chenro, what the deal was, and then they kept him there in isolation until the Yeerk died the next morning from Kandrona starvation. And THEN they called Jill in to talk to Tom, because the guy had been utterly traumatized by a parasite in his head and needed to talk to someone, and since we've got three counselors on hand... Anyway, he frustrated her. Like a lot. And she left him in the care of ship security and went to have dinner while she thought it all through. That's how she showed up in the Vernen's kitchen where Dr. Vernen was letting Loren make name cards while I watched: frustrated.

To add to the fun, Tobias had teleported to New York to talk to Rachel (definitely my mom) about his mother having been found, and I don't know how she was able to slip away for five minutes, but she did, and she came back with him to see for herself. She came, she chatted for a minute, and then had to leave again because Lauren can run interference only so long before my grandmother the lawyer gets suspicious and starts to ask questions.

Oh, and in the middle of all this, Dr. Vernen's sister and her husband arrived with Peter. They're head of a covert military unit attached to Zone 91... which, yes, finally stopped studying the Andalite Toilet when they found out what it was. And they've come up in the world: now they've got damaged bug fighters to study to their heart's content. Or will... I'm confused and slightly swiss-cheesed about the timing.

So they arrived with Peter in tow... Peter, whose parents had died while on a mission two weeks earlier. And Ranko... well, she age-shifted from her normal appearance down to about the age she'd look were she human... in front of Loren. And got chastised by her mom, who had to recind the no-shocks around the former coma patient thing since it wasn't going to be upheld anyway.

Dinner... was uneventful, other than Sable and Ethan having to return to base for a catch-up briefing on the mission they were going on. I didn't get the full story on that. Maybe something changed and everybody was in need of updates? Hard to tell, and I didn't need to know, so I wasn't told.

Also, Dr. Vernen got paged for a patient, so she had to leave, too.

It's weird, but, until that night, I didn't quite know how lonely and isolated Tobias's life had been before. Oh, I know... he got trapped in morph, had spent months as a bird being their version of aerial reconnaisance because he no longer had to worry about that thing one calls a curfew, but... I mean before. Before walking through the construction site that night with four other people. I mention it because immediately following dinner, we, those who didn't have to leave and weren't paged for the medical, settled in to watch a movie. And Todias? Hadn't yet seen Alladin. (Remind me to show that to you when this is over, Toby. You'll... likely understand none of it, but cultural education has to start somewhere, right?)

And something else in all this: Jill took Loren to talk to Tom upon finding out that Loren herself had once been a controller temporarily on account of my mother's junior high school Assistant Principal being an idiot. Wish I'd been there for that. Not the Chapman being an idiot part, but rather Loren talking to Tom.

* * *

Next to last entry...

* * *

Gotta go help save the world now. This... should be interesting. Have not ever gone full out with the illusion thing, but it's for a good cause, right? Right. At least there are no Taxxon morphs to worry about. Once was quite enough. Even when the Taxxons are on your side, they still kinda want to eat you and everything else in sight.

* * *

Next next to last entry...

* * *

I can't believe she spilled all of that information that way... am I allowed to cringe at the memory of myself as an eight year old, because I really, really want to. And... no. Don't wanna go into detail about that mission with the Taxxon morphs. I am quite happy not totally remembering it.

_It was bad, huh?_

Given that there was a very upset and somewhat crazy Sub-Visser whose host was formerly a burn victim involved in that mess... does "Duh" cover it? Because I think it should.

_Yes, Ranko. That covers it. And yes, you are allowed to cringe as much as you please. You weren't the responsible party, though._

So the fact that I tagged along with my siblings and their friends...

_Means you had an entertaining evening. Without the pseudo pot roast that wasn't._

Ah... Anyway, my intent on writing in this journal while they're all, minus Ket Halpak because Savage grounded her too, off saving the world from the not-so-evil-but-still-repulsive menace, was to explain what the plan is. The plan, such as it is, is really very simple: put on a show. Put on a big show, use all our talents, and scare the Yeerks so bad that giving up is the only alternative. It was in something Jake said once: that if it looks like a tried and true no-win senario, a yeerk will just give up where a human will march straight in guns blazing and probably die anyway.

_Psychological warfare?_

In a way. Put on a show, make it look worse than it really is, and force a cease fire that kills no one. And, if it's one thing we know how to do, it's that. Just wish Savage hadn't grounded us, because I really wanted to take part.

_You are. We're guarding the Valley._

Hadn't thought of it that way. Thanks.

_Any time. _

* * *

Last entry...

* * *

They went home today. And the war? Over. Over... what will happen now? Don't know. Time will tell. And they promised to tell me more of story when next I see them as them, whatever that mean. It's confusing. Very, very confusing. Like Yeerks surrendering, and peace happening out of turmoil and suffering.

Time will tell where all this leads. For now... I have new baby brother. And that's enough.


End file.
